


Perfect

by Quilser



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angry Sex, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Language, Mystery, Slow Burn, Smut, broken!Toni, end game though, post relationship breakup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-04-18 20:57:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14221656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quilser/pseuds/Quilser
Summary: Love is complicated with the world peering in and sometimes past demons make it even harder. When a love is rekindled between two individuals, a situation of blackmail was the last thing either of them expected, but now a race against time is what further bonds them together.





	1. Party Reunions

**Author's Note:**

> Total angst party with angry sex as a combo?? I haven’t really seen many - if any - shots with Choni dealing with breakups/other problems so…I’m starting the trend no one asked for and probably don’t want??? Yes. Yes I am. Also contains a more or less broken Toni as opposed to a broken Cheryl so WERE JUST BREAKING ALL THE RULES !!!!!!!!!!! fun

The lights moving around the room were nothing compared to the darkness that remained in their absence and covered the majority of party goers in a sheet of darkness. Though pieces could be unveiled by the occasional brightness acquired through a phone screen or a camera flash, the majority of the time was spent cloaked in a false night.

The individuals sitting underneath that cloak thought little of the false privacy it provided them. They were all too familiar with the nightlife in which they took part in and knew that somehow, a picture could always be taken and a moment could always be misconstrued. There was no hiding. There was no privacy. There was only the flickering of strobe lights and the loud music blaring through the speakers.

Some knew that better than others did. They understood the implications of living in a world that sat in wait for any mistake; any reason to grab the pitchforks and light the torches. Despite the love that their small town could hold for them, nothing was more captivating than a person being brought to their knees.

Cheryl watched on in thought of this. She felt uncomfortable knowing the secrets she held could be released at any second. The secrets they all had, down to their very darkest, could be pushed into light causing a domino effect with their entire livelihoods as the final falling piece. It was unnerving, and so Cheryl watched in awe as others amongst her usual crowd danced blissfully along to the music as if they were in their bedrooms and not under the scrutinizing eyes of the rest of the town; eyes that never ceased in their hunger to destroy.

She glanced around the room noticing all who were around her. Jughead and Archie were drinking off to her left. In unusual fashion, they were without their girlfriends, but a quick look behind her clarified why. Betty and Veronica danced increasingly close to one another as the music played on. One might assume that there was something more occurring between the pair, but it was easy to see how both girls would stare deeply into the eyes of their respective boyfriends indicating the true reason for the “show”.

Josie danced playfully with the rest of the Pussycats as they were all too drunk to remember that they were on bad terms. Seeing all this, Cheryl realized that no conversation was to be had with any of these groups. So she sat in silence. She analyzed and ignored any attempt at conversation made by others in the parties participants. Tonight wasn’t one of the nights she could warrant faking a smile for everyone in attendance.

“Could you stop being all sulky and broody over there? Someone’s going to think you’re angry or something.” Cheryl heard the words, but it took her longer than normal to understand them. Her mind had been drifting above herself; as though she was flying.

“And wouldn’t it be a travesty if someone were to assume that anyone could actually have feelings other than happiness at one of these ridiculous blowouts.” Cheryl responded coldly and it didn’t take long for the speaker to sigh and turn away. Only then did Cheryl realize that Kevin had been the one talking and a wave of guilt rushed over her soon after given that this party had been planned and otherwise orchestrated by him. That feeling left abruptly though.

The party continued as usual, as it always did on summer nights when the towns youth had nothing better to do. It was filled with the same boring drinking games and aggressive dancing that never actually built any sense of romance or sexual appeal, but rather created a draining sense of annoyance every time the action consumed the dancefloor. For once, it would be nice for one of these parties to have something out of the box. It’s not as if people can’t just fuck and drink by themselves without some massing of sweaty peers to do so with.

Before Cheryl knew it, her feet carried her out of the central hub of the party life and to the restroom without much thought. Though she had no reason to go, the concept of being there seemed more reasonable in her mind than people watching in the living room. People in this town rarely took kindly to gawkers, despite all of them staring intently at one another in secret hopes of witnessing a slip up any chance they got.

As she approached the restroom shoved into a hallway just outside of the living room, she felt uncommonly inconvenienced. Outside the small washroom was a line of various people either making out or simply waiting to use the bathroom. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Cheryl couldn’t even fathom attempting conversation with individuals so easily pleased.

At that moment, Cheryl came to the conclusion that the only option she had was to go to a different restroom area. Although it was generally bad form to go into the upstairs area where parties were concerned, no one would stop her. She was Cheryl Blossom aka Cheryl Bombshell. With years of experience in prosiding over the peasants that made up her fellow party goers under her belt, the least any one of them could do was let her use the restroom where she wanted.

She ignored the stares she got as she walked the stairs up to the second floor. Those who saw her were smart to say nothing as she would have given them an earful in her current mood.

Cheryl entered the restroom after a brief knock and pushed her back against the door to force it shut. She finally felt alone and away from all the craziness that was outside. She was finally able to take a breath that couldn’t be seen.

Not knowing what to do with her new found privacy, Cheryl walked to the sink and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She looked as perfect as always. Some would say that she was being narcissistic, but those people would do well to remember that she made it her business to look perfect. It’s not to say the look she held didn’t come with a great deal of effort and hours of practice, but the perfection was something that had naturally grown around her. Growing up in the eye of the town can do that to a person.

Suddenly, Cheryl felt the urge to erase everything that made the town's eyes so focused on her. She desperately wanted to splash her face with water to allow everything to run off her like the fake painting it was. She wanted to take every pesky bobby pin out of her hair and bend them so that they could never be used again. She wanted to rip off the red dress that fit her every curve and break the heels off the shoes that even she found to be a bit too pricey. She wanted to look broken and confused. She wanted to look like how she felt.

This, however, could not be done. Instead, Cheryl settled for washing her hands. Granted, she violently scrubbed at them as if washing off the germs was equivalent to washing off everything else. It wasn’t the same though.

Once Cheryl had dried her hands, she returned her gaze to the mirror and laid her palms down onto the countertop. Would it be so terrible if she were to leave right now? Certainly it would be possible sneak out without attracting too many eyes. She could slip away and all that would occur would be some slight social repercussions and a well thought out excuse given to any who came asking questions. It would be so simple, yet she stayed. Image was everything after all.

Cheryl looked herself over once more. Maybe if she looked hard enough, she could find a reason to smile and act as though she didn’t feel like that cloak from before hadn’t also managed to cover her soul. Something might work. It had to.

Then it did.

Just as Cheryl opened the door to the restroom, willingly relinquishing her privacy once more, she was so easily reminded of why she felt like this. She could vividly remember all the parties with which she had been unconsciously comparing this one too. Memories flashed around her mind as she recalled just how she’d begun to feel like this. How could she have forgotten?

On either side of the door frame, two sets of eyes met in a way that one would describe the warring of two countries as. A silent settlement on the aggression that filled them up, mixed with a level of confusion about how they’d managed to get here was allowed to settle in all around them. No words were spoken, yet emotions were being conveyed with ease from one glance to the other.

On the other side of that door was the familiar face Cheryl had tried to become unfamiliar with. This face brought Cheryl such an unbearable concoction of 1 part joy and 99 parts heartache.

It was Toni.

Neither of the girls was quite sure how much time had passed, but as far as they were concerned, time didn’t exist. Despite the cliché of it all, both individuals were fairly certain that they could blink and somehow they’d end up somewhere else entirely.

That cliché feeling did not remain though, and the moment broke as quickly as it began. A wave of eeriness filled the spaces around the pair and they both consciously tried to ignore the obvious. This wouldn’t be real if they didn’t allow it to be. They were both certain of it.

With Cheryl standing on the side of the door that Toni was trying to reach, Toni took it upon herself to push past Cheryl into the washroom. It seemed as though getting too close for too long could cause some form of natural disaster that neither girl was ready for. They were like two tectonic plates just itching to create chaos and because of this, Toni was quick to disconnect from the shoulder that met hers in passing.

As the air began getting thicker, Toni found that the redhead was still standing inside of the bathroom, thus preventing her from closing the door and going about her business. Understanding this, Toni decided that the only thing to be done was to ask the other girl to exit.

“I thought you didn’t come to these things anymore.” The words spilled from Cheryl’s lips without her compliance. Although she’d tried to remain tight-lipped, it seemed that the presence of the one who stood no more than a foot from her dragged the very words right from her throat.

Toni was just as surprised by the sudden line of speech. She hadn’t planned on communication like this. She hadn’t planned on communication at all, but it seemed like a lot of unplanned occurrences kept popping up.

“Kind of difficult to say no when you’re invited.” The bite escaped through Toni’s words more than she thought it would. Something about talking to this person about matters that already angered her enough caused an even more enraged side of her to be expressed.

Cheryl nodded without another word and Toni began to muster up the courage to ask her to leave once more.

“I’m glad that you were invited you.” Toni was silenced again. Anger rippled through her like a stone thrown into water. What upset her more was that Cheryl was now attempting to walk out after all of that.

“You don’t get to do that!” Toni screamed, breaking her calm demeanor from before as she gripped onto Cheryl’s wrist and dragged her away from reaching the exit. Cheryl was now standing just in front of the door frame, and she was sure that attempting to move would lead to her being dragged back.

“Do what? All I said was –,“ Cheryl was cut off before being able to speak as Toni stole the opportunity to talk right from under her.

“You don’t get to say nice things about anything in regards to me! You don’t get to pretend like you somehow care about anything that happens to me anymore! You don’t get to do that!” Toni was getting louder and louder with ever statement. Each one was accented with a finger wave in Cheryl’s direction to exaggerate what Toni was trying to say. Cheryl needed no exaggeration.

Cheryl’s face had changed from the one she held before. The look she now possessed was one of shear indifference. It annoyed Toni to no end.

“I wasn’t trying to upset you.” The voice that exited Cheryl wasn’t one she was readily familiar with and despite her current exterior of apathy, the voice matched an entirely different emotion. Toni almost faltered, but allowed the anger she felt to surface quickly before she could completely break. She wouldn’t allow this girl to get the best of her.

“You weren’t trying to upset me? That has to be the richest thing I’ve ever heard you say! So when did you decide that you weren’t trying to upset me exactly? Was it when you allowed the entire school to turn against me or was it when you stopped messaging me too and left me to my own devices for 2 years? Please, enlighten me on this sudden change of heart you had!”

Toni was fuming. Her eyes were beginning to burn as they were bulging from her skull while she attempted to stare into Cheryl rather than at her. Cheryl said nothing as she stared back at Toni with expressionless eyes. Toni laughed at the never failing nature of the girl in front of her to be cold in times emotion was called for. 

“Why is it that whenever things get serious, you act like you don’t care? The moment I actually get to confront you, you just look at me like you can’t feel anything.” Toni spoke gesturing to Cheryl and specifically the way she was displaying herself.

“You’re unbelievable. Did you know that?” Toni was finally done. Her arms came to rest over her chest as she took a step back. With any thought of using the restroom out of her mind, Toni moved Cheryl out of the way and was walking nearer to the door when she suddenly felt her wrist being grabbed and pulled behind her.

Toni followed the tug only to find herself greeted by Cheryl, and more specifically her lips.

Nothing seemed to happen for a long period of time. Toni was sure that her lips had already collided with the girl in front of her, yet she somehow felt as if nothing was even remotely close to her body at the moment. Everything around her felt like water and she was just floating in it. There was nothing to grab onto except empty space. Then she felt something.

Toni felt the slight pull of her upper lip being dragged between Cheryl’s own lips. Such a feeling had been foreign to Toni for years now, yet somehow, it was as familiar as riding a bike.

Without thought, Toni began to move her lips along with Cheryl’s. It was only then that she realized her wrist was still firmly gripped in Cheryl’s hand which she shook out of only to clasp onto the back of Cheryl’s neck with both of her palms. Her fingers twisted and pulled at the tiny strands of hair that were hidden behind the rest of Cheryl’s bright red locks.

Cheryl took this as a cue to place her hands on Toni’s waist, but this didn’t last long as her hands easily slipped to the small of Toni’s back which pulled the two even closer together. The air between them belonged to neither, but rather to both. The space between them was nonexistent.

Cheryl twisted slightly and began pushing Toni towards the door which, unknown to Toni had been shut by Cheryl some time ago, but was surprised when Toni twisted both of them around before pushing Cheryl back into the door, allowing their mouths to detach.

Cheryl gasped slightly as her back collided with the solid surface causing her to let go of Toni, but she was quickly hushed and reunited with the other girl when Toni’s mouth covered hers once more. Toni no longer held onto Cheryl’s neck, but had instead switched to grabbing her hips as to keep them in place whilst the two continued to kiss.

Toni’s mouth slowly found its way to Cheryl’s ear where she felt the need to nip at it whenever Cheryl made an attempt at moving. Cheryl made one last attempt to loosen Toni’s grip on her hips, but this only resulted in a stronger bite being placed upon her earlobe to which she whimpered in response.

“Did you really miss me that much Red?” Toni whispered in a husky tone as she placed a kiss underneath Cheryl’s ear. She then began leaving open-mouthed kisses along her neckline until she reached the spot she knew Cheryl was most easily broken by.

Toni made a hasty assault on the pulse point of the girl in front of her. Cheryl almost screamed when Toni bit down especially hard. The jolt from the area travelled straight to her core and she couldn’t help but to roll her hips strongly against Toni’s hands trying to find any sort of friction to ease the ache she was beginning to feel.

“I can make this so much worse for you if you don’t stay still.” Toni’s voice had dropped this time and Cheryl was almost willing to listen, but then she felt what the girl meant. Toni had pushed her body up against Cheryl’s and was now grinding herself, as best as she could, down onto Cheryl through their clothes.

Cheryl was overcome with the desire to feel more of Toni and she regretted not listening to herself earlier when she’d contemplated ripping off the dress in the first place. Now it seemed like walls separated the two girls, despite their growing closeness.

“Toni…” Cheryl hummed out as Toni made a particularly satisfying combo of touches work together to make Cheryl realize just how much she’d missed this. She wasn’t quite sure she was ready to remember how much she missed everything else, but she was certain that this had been one of her least favorite things to lose.  
Toni let out a soft moan with the addition of her name slipping from Cheryl’s lips. She wouldn’t let Cheryl know, but everything that was happening was affecting her more than it ever had before. It was as if everything for the last two years had been bottled up and now it was pouring over the edge into whatever this had become. It felt better than before. It felt right. It felt perfect.

And then it wasn’t.

A sound was made somewhere outside the restroom to which both girls noticed immediately. Both of the girls separated quickly and glanced around until they realized that the sound had come from something crashing downstairs within the mass of party people. In all their searching after hearing the sound though, both girls managed to spot a camera that had been stuck into the top corner facing the doorway and it took even less effort to notice that a single red light was blinking.  
Toni felt as if everything was crumbling. Could they have really been that caught up in drama to have not noticed the most important detail of the entire room? How was it that they managed to overlook the one thing that could be a death sentence to them both?

Little time elapsed before Toni ran out of the restroom. Rationally, she knew leaving now would do nothing to resolve what had already been recorded, but the thought of staying any longer made her sick to her stomach. She knew what she’d just allowed to be seen. She also knew that there was no coming back from the image she just allowed to be taken of herself.

She ran down the hallways and past faces of her peers that she couldn’t have been less interested in; lost in thought before running out of the house and into the summer air of Riverdale that evening. 

Cheryl had tried to reason with herself what the best approach could be to a situation like this. Similar to Toni, she did this while running down the hallways and past the rest of the house guests. The only difference between the two girls was that one was running after someone and the other was running away.


	2. The Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of the party, Cheryl's mind is in a haze. What can be said though when her and the girl she'd thought she lost are forced even closer together?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Besides some language, this is about as backstory driver as a chapter can get. If you want to read this as a series and understand what’s going on, read this. If you don’t care about plot and are just here for the goods…next chapter my pals. Next chapter

Cheryl sat in the principal’s office for what felt like hours. Of course, only a few minutes had passed due to the principal’s tardiness, but Cheryl could’ve been easily fooled if not for the repetitive ticking of the desk clock in front of her.

She hadn’t been told what the conference was about prior to coming, but she had a good idea what would be discussed. The grave look Kevin had given her when she’d entered the office area was particularly telling. This could only concern one thing, Toni. Cheryl could only think of one thing in her life that had recently concerned that individual.

When Mr. Weatherbee came in, Cheryl couldn’t even meet his eyes. Her head stayed bowed without much want to do anything else.

“Based on your current reaction, I assume you’ve heard what this conference is about.” A shiver travelled through Cheryl when she heard him speak. It was without a doubt certain that she’d been correct concerning the content of this impromptu student conference.

“I regret that you’re so upset with me, but I’m afraid this is what’s best for the school’s image.” That surprised Cheryl. What did she have to be upset with him about? It’s not as if he’d punished her yet or anything. The timing of the phrase caused too much confusion for Cheryl not to raise her head.

Mr. Weatherbee had his back turned to Cheryl seemingly staring absently at the books littering the shelves behind his desk. This allowed him to miss the look of confusion that sat on the face of the one he was addressing.

“You have to understand though. With graduation coming up at the end of this year and the first batch of Southside kids set to graduate, we can’t afford to not show a united front for alumni and potential investors in the school. It might seem strange at first, but I’m certain any differences you have from the Southside kids are material at best.” Weatherbee’s words continued to confuse Cheryl. It was as if he’d forgotten who was in his office and was instead talking to be someone else.

“I don’t know what you mean sir.” Cheryl finally spoke, but her words barely came out above a whisper. Thankfully, Weatherbee was still capable of hearing her as he turned with a look of confusion now settled onto his face.

“Excuse me then. Your actions when I entered made it seem as though you’d already been informed of my decision.” Cheryl leaned forward at the mentioning of a decision being made. Somehow, leaning forward seemed like the fastest way to understand the meaning behind that statement.

“Ah right, you still don’t know what I’m referring to.” Weatherbee chuckled to himself before sitting down into his chair and settling before looking back at Cheryl. “I’ve decided that you and Toni Topaz will be the ambassadors for your class this year. It will be a coming together of different lifestyles in a way and in that it is expected of you two to…” Weatherbee continued to speak, but Cheryl drowned him out. Her mind had been stuck on the mention of Toni.

“Cheryl. Cheryl?” Finally her name reached Cheryl’s ears and she looked up to see a look of concern painted onto the principals face. “Are you alright?” Cheryl nodded her head vigorously before ceasing the motion and paying attention to everything that Weatherbee was saying.

-`-`-`-`-`-

Apparently, Toni’s position as being a de facto leader of the Serpents, or at least the most recognizable female who was occasionally in charge, had gained the attention of Weatherbee. Supposedly, Riverdale High was attempting to end any stigma going into the new year in regards to the Southside kids that had existed since the group had joined the school. Although there would be no official show of good spirits, Weatherbee hoped that the pairing of the most Riverdale girl out of the students -- aka Cheryl -- and the most Southside girl -- aka Toni -- would show an acceptance and bring an end to the bitter classiest rivalry that remained between the two groups.

Cheryl was beyond shocked by the end of the meeting. How was it that she’d managed to create a potential problem for a project that she hadn’t even known to exist yet? To think that she’d now have to partner up with Toni after everything that had occurred.

Almost immediately after the meeting came to a close Cheryl found herself in her car staring mindlessly into the parking lot in front of her. It was as if no time had passed between now and two years ago and she was back to fearing that the true nature of herself would be revealed once more.

No matter how many times Cheryl attempted to rearrange it in her head, nothing about the situation seemed to make sense. It was as though she was simply in the middle of a nightmare that she couldn’t manage to wake up from.

As she thought about it more, she came to realize that being alone in her car was only scaring her more. She grabbed her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she noticed one in particular.

Without thinking, she immediately dialed Josie and ceased breathing as the phone rang and rang. She started to worry that no one would pick up, but when the ring tone hushed and a small click was heard, Cheryl released a sigh of relief.

“Josie?” Cheryl’s voice cracked as she spoke and although no tears fell, she could tell that they were welling up.

“Cheryl? Girl, what’s wrong? Are you alright?” Josie sounded groggy which made Cheryl feel bad calling her while knowing that the girl, like most high school students, prefered to sleep in on Saturday’s as opposed to being awake, but just hearing the voice of her friend managed to comfort her slightly.

“I fucked up. I fucked up so badly and it's only getting worse and I don’t know what to do Josie.” Cheryl was now allowing tears to fall from her eyes. The paths they made felt as if they cut into the skin they crossed. With every tear, Cheryl felt as though a piece of her fell too.

“Alright just breathe. Where are you? I can come get you.” Josie seemed wide awake now. Though her voice was still laced with a hint of sleepiness, the alertness it carried outweighed the other.

“No. No, I’ll come to you. Are you at home?” Cheryl managed to sniffle back a few tears in order to settle her voice and buckle her seatbelt as she put Josie on speaker phone. She had always been good at concealing things when she needed to and driving didn’t exactly feel like the best time to be blinded by tears.

“Yeah, I’m at home. Just come over and I’ll get some food and we’ll just have a girls day alright?” Cheryl agreed with a hum before hanging up the phone and taking a large breath. She attempted to center herself and when her best had been achieved she sped out of the school parking lot.

-`-`-`-`-`-

When Cheryl arrived at Josie’s house, she barely made it through the door before collapsing onto the floor. The tears she’d pushed back before came even faster than she'd expected and if not for Josie rushing to her side, she might have passed out.

That was one thing she was glad to have changed about herself in the past two years. While she still trusted few, those she did keep around her were people she was somewhat comfortable breaking down in front of. Had things been the same as they were two years prior, Cheryl wasn’t sure what she would’ve done in this moment.  
After a while, Josie managed to help Cheryl to her bedroom and make her comfortable while she went to get some food. Whenever Cheryl got like this, she wouldn’t talk until she was ready, so it was just better to keep her distracted until she was ready to deal. Josie knew this from extreme amounts of practice.

Josie and Cheryl sat for hours watching random channels that popped onto the TV from the comfort of Josie’s room. Josie was extremely careful to avoid anything too dramatic in content knowing that Cheryl probably didn’t need any more drama in her life right now.

For the past two years, this had been somewhat of a routine. Whenever either girl felt like the world was closing in around them, they would venture to the other for a distraction at the very least. Cheryl had been there when Josie was having problems with the Pussycats, and Josie was here now. That’s how they worked and had worked for years.

Despite the rocky road both had taken to rebuild their friendship, they were able to be stronger than ever with years together as a starting place.

Cheryl was especially thankful in moments like these for Josie’s understanding and patience which could occasionally contrast with her stubborn and ambitious nature. She was rather adept at choosing the right and wrong times to press Cheryl for information and to Cheryl, no better quality could be achieved in a friend.  
The show they’d been watching had been playing reruns for a few hours when Cheryl finally crawled off the couch she’d slowly been sinking into and moved to be facing Josie where she was sitting on the bed. With a tear stained face, she explained everything that had occurred in the past few weeks.

Josie sat silently only making sounds of understanding when necessary. Her face remained neutral and Cheryl was thankful for that. When the recalling of events came to an end, Josie sat in silence for a while longer pondering everything she’d been told.

After a few minutes of silence, Josie looked directly into Cheryl’s eyes and asked the one question that had arisen in her mind during the telling of the story by Cheryl.  
“So do you still have feelings for her?”

Cheryl was taken aback by Josie’s words. Though the question had briefly crossed her mind, she’d quickly swept it away with all the other thoughts she hated having.  
It wasn’t so long ago that such a question had been able to keep her up at night and distract her during every moment of her life. When Cheryl finally moved past the question’s hold on her, she’d vowed to never allow it to enter her mind again; at least in consideration for a certain individual.

Josie hadn’t uttered another word since asking. She sat silently once more, only staring into Cheryl’s eyes.

“I’m not trying to probe you for answers or anything. If you don’t want to answer you don’t have to. I guess that’s just the only question that could explain why you care so much about this. I get that you’re scared of that video and all because of your mom and the rest of the town, but it’s totally possible that it was just a security camera or better yet just a malfunctioning something or other that some drunken idiot left in the bathroom. Plus, who’d be dumb enough to come for a Blossom with that kind of nonsense”

Cheryl could tell that Josie had taken in all of this rationally. Perhaps her inability to understand the situation in such a way was more telling of her feelings than she’d like it to be, but she couldn’t contemplate that at the moment.

“I don’t know Josie. Honestly, I never expected to see her again, and then I did. Things that haven’t occurred in years happened and now I’m expected to act normally and be all buddy-buddy with her for some stupid school image. I don’t understand how I’m supposed to do that.” Cheryl confessed what was running through her mind. It was no use lying to Josie. She’d know anyway. They’d been through too much.

“I get that this is hard for you girl, but I really have to ask this.” Josie paused and took a breath knowing her question could easily rub Cheryl the wrong way. “Have you considered that this might be even harder on Toni?”

With that Cheryl felt as though a stop sign had been placed within the depths of her mind. It was as if she could no longer think without her thoughts being stripped away or stopped in place.

“If you think about, throughout everything that’s happened between you two, it’s been you getting the better end of the deal. I know it’s probably not my place to say this, as it’s not my life, but if you look at it, Toni was dropped by everyone at school, she had to fight to maintain some semblance of a relationship with friends that would’ve been fairly secured for her if not for them siding with you. She had to be the one left behind by all of us, and especially you. No matter how I think of it, a lot has been done by her to make sure you got it better off.”

Josie was no longer looking at Cheryl. Since she’d began her question and explanation she’d been playing with her fingers attempting to distance herself from Cheryl’s response. She couldn’t see the look of aggravation that had begun growing onto Cheryl’s features. If she had, she would have realized how warranted her fear was.  
“You know what Josie, it’s not like I’ve enjoyed this. You think I wanted all that to happen to her? You think I wanted to stop talking to her? You think I wanted to see her have to fight daily like that?” Cheryl was raising her tone more and more and with every word Josie shrunk farther down it seemed.

“I think you wanted to do what was easier for you.” Josie spoke quietly but strength still presented itself in her response.

“Well I’m glad that you see me as such an amazing human being Josie. God, I’m just gonna go.” Cheryl left Josie’s in a hurry. She managed to hold her expression of anger until she got to her car, but once she got inside, the expression fell.

The more she thought about Josie’s words, the more she realized how right she was. 

When word had started spreading about a lesbian couple within the school two years prior, and eyes quickly turned to the fast growing “friendship” forming between Cheryl and Toni, Cheryl had felt like only one possible outcome could result if something wasn’t done to handle the situation. Things would come out one way or another and Cheryl knew that it was always better to get ahead of information and spread it yourself.

At first, both Toni and Cheryl had agreed that they would just throw caution to the wind and make a public show of being a couple; consequences come as they may, but as the day neared for them to out themselves to the school, Cheryl began to worry more and more.

Being at the top was all she’d ever known her entire life. Was it really worth risking for a relationship that might not last? If her brother dying had taught her anything it was that even the best of things must come to an end. 

In a rash, and rather regrettable decision as Cheryl came to remember it as, Cheryl outed Toni to the entire school without her knowledge, leaving the day when they were suppose to out themselves together to be the day Toni came back to rumors spreading that she’d attempted to come onto Cheryl and hadn’t been friendly when the answer was no. Try as she might, Cheryl couldn’t bring herself to deny such rumors in fear of putting herself at risk of exposure.

The ordeal had caused many of Toni’s friends to turn against her. While Toni wanted to argue against such things, she quickly realized that any attempt to do so would only lead to questions being thrown Cheryl’s way. Not wanting this, Toni denied nothing, not even to her closest friends, and as sophomore year came and went and junior year came into focus, Toni was left alone with no hope of regaining her previous stature.

As time passed, Cheryl had attempted to stay in contact with the girl who’d sacrificed everything for her, but the more she spoke to Toni, the guiltier she felt. The guilt ate at her and affected everything from her school work to her personal life.

Eventually, Cheryl just stopped messaging. Toni attempted almost daily at communication, but after a few months, that too faltered. Part of Cheryl excused away her actions by saying that she was only following the way of the world; the social order that confined her existence. Another part of her understood though that everything being done was of her own selfish ambitions.

Cheryl thought about all of this as she drove her car down the roads of Riverdale. At first she’d been unaware of the location she was heading in, but as her car ran over the noticeable bump of railroad tracks, the thought clicked in her mind.

The notion that Toni would have remained in the same place for the past two years seemed stupid to believe. Cheryl was certain she’d heard rumor of Toni’s grandfather dying in the previous year which made the chances that much smaller. Despite this though, Cheryl had to know.

As Cheryl ventured down the dirt road into the brownish grass that made up the yard of the trailer in front of her, her nerves began to explode. Although she had no intention of turning back until her curiosity was cured, something still pulled at her to turn around and go back to Josie’s, or better yet to her own home.

This didn’t stop her though. With what little courage she could muster, Cheryl allowed her feet to be carried up the stairs of the trailer as her heart pounded more and more in her chest. The sound was almost deafening before it halted abruptly the second Cheryl reached the door she’d been slowly approaching.

Nothing had changed from the first, and only, time she’d been here with Toni. That was a time when she’d thought that being with the girl forever wasn’t a far off possibility, now it seemed like a distant dream. Cheryl couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of it all.

Ignoring the rest of her thoughts, Cheryl ventured to the door in front of her. With a shaky hand, she reached for doorbell that shined dimly given the brightness the afternoon sun was providing.

Cheryl hadn’t realized that she’d pressed the button until the tone was heard from inside of the bell being rung. As Cheryl waited for an answer, she felt silly for being there at all.

What was the point of coming? She hadn’t thought of what to say, or why she’d say she’d come. Nothing had crossed the paths in her mind besides getting there and now that she’d arrived, her head felt blank.

Time seemed to pass in lengthy periods as Cheryl continued waiting for the door to open. It seemed as though she really had been mistaken in coming. After another minute, Cheryl finally gave up. With a small laugh which showed more pain than amusement, Cheryl found herself venturing off the stairs that led to the front door of the trailer and back to her car.

The walk back felt longer than the entire drive there. Cheryl couldn’t shake the feeling that if anyone had been watching her at this moment, they’d be laughing at how much of an idiot she looked like. In hindsight, she probably deserved the humiliation. What right did she have to be comfortable at this point?

As she reached her car, a chill settled over her. The dreariness that the empty land around her held seemed to match her too well in this moment. It scared her.  
Thankfully, she was only a door opening away from escaping the large empty space and as her hand extended to open her car door, she almost felt relieved. 

As she grasped the door handle, a sigh escaped Cheryl. This was what she deserved, and she knew it, but the pain she felt from being wrong and still acting on it felt worse than doing nothing at all.

“Cheryl.”


	3. Too Angry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps Cheryl hadn't really expected that door to ever open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A dirty talk kink is in here. Also I guess you could say I wrote sub!Cheryl but. Like. That would imply I wrote a dom!Toni and I don’t really know if that’s the case. Ah well. Who knows anyway? You tell me

“Cheryl.” Hearing her own name surprised her. For a moment she’d questioned if she imagined it, but with a quick turn of her head to face behind her, she saw the one she’d come to see.

It seemed surreal to Cheryl that she’d somehow been right about Toni being here, but then the question rose as to why the door hadn’t been answered. Cheryl decided to ignore this fact for now though in favor of venturing over to Toni.

Looking at her from closer up revealed that Toni must have gone out the night before. Her eyes sat heavy with makeup that she only wore on the nights she went partying and the tight pants and revealing top that clung to her revealed enough on their own.

Looking at her own outfit, Cheryl somehow felt underdressed despite only being in view of a desolate front yard and Toni.

“Hey.” That’s all that managed to escape Cheryl’s lips when she’d gotten closer to Toni. The expression on the girl in front of her said nothing of her emotions. It was completely neutral and Cheryl wasn’t sure whether to fear or appreciate that.

“What are you doing here?” Toni questioned, this time sounding more exhausted with the thought than questioning.

Cheryl didn’t answer. She couldn’t quite think of a reason as to why she’d shown up at all. All she knew was that she’d arrived here without much thought.

“You do know it’s a Saturday right? Why are you all the way out here?” Toni continued to ask seemingly unfazed by Cheryl’s lack of an answer.

“Maybe the better question is what one of us was up to last night.” Cheryl spat back somehow finding the will to sound angry. She knew it wasn’t her place to question what Toni did, but the thought of her going out made her uncomfortable to say the least.

“Why would what I did or didn’t do last night be of any concern to you?” Toni threw back after a look of disbelief settled onto her features as she crossed her arms.  
Cheryl tried to think of something to say, but felt as though she was somehow having an argument on the playground with the stupidity held in each of their statements.

“I wasn’t even going to answer the door when I saw you. Don’t make me regret coming out here.” Cheryl had to hide the hurt she felt knowing that Toni had ignored her at the door, though part of her wanted to applaud Toni for having more self-control than herself.

“I’m sorry. I guess I just wanted to see you after the news I got today. I’m guessing you heard it too?” Cheryl attempted to calm herself enough to speak to Toni. It seemed to have worked.

“Oh you mean the great news that you and me get to be ambassadors for the school? Yeah, I definitely heard that one.” The sarcasm was evident in Toni’s voice, but Cheryl decided to let it be as Toni turned and wordlessly signaled Cheryl to follow her.

Once in Toni’s trailer, Cheryl couldn’t help but look around as Toni went to make some coffee. The place looked nice. It had Toni written all over it. Her serpent jacket was thrown over the back of a chair in what Cheryl presumed to be the dining room and a motorcycle helmet sat next to it on the table. The rest of the trailer had a certain level of disorder to it, but something told Cheryl that this was how Toni preferred it.

The thought that Toni was still able to live here without her grandpa made Cheryl smile knowing just how strong the other girl was. She quickly removed the expression from her face as Toni entered from the kitchen though.

“Here. I made it the way you used to like it. If you don’t want it I’ll make another.” Toni’s voice mixed a confusing blend of anger and anxiety into one statement, and Cheryl was careful to note both.

With a sip, Cheryl had to suppress a hum of pleasure with the delicious taste that emanated from the sip she’d taken. “It’s fine.” That’s all she allowed herself to answer. Toni accepted that with a nod and sat down in what used to be her grandpa’s chair to the side of the coffee table.

Nothing was said as the two sat drinking their coffee. Cheryl continued to glance around the room while Toni stared at nothing significant.

Finally when the coffee ran dry and nothing new was left to see, both girls were forced to look at each other. Nothing continued to be said and silence seeped into the cracks around them. It felt awkward in a way it never had between the two who’d once been so much closer than either thought imaginable now.

“Why’d you come here Cheryl?” There was that question again. This time Toni didn’t seem to be accepting silence as an answer. Cheryl thought about it for a minute. If she had to say an exact reason as to why she’d come, it would probably be nothing more than the want to be around Toni.

“I don’t know.” That seemed like the safer answer.

“Bullshit.” Toni was growing more and more frustrated with Cheryl. It seemed as though she was still only concerned with protecting herself from whatever was going on right now and the thought alone angered Toni. What right did she have to continue thinking only of herself?

Toni got up from her chair and grabbed Cheryl’s mug which had been placed down shortly before on her pursuit into the kitchen where she began washing both of the mugs.

Cheryl sighed as she heard the water turn on knowing that Toni was never much in the mood for cleaning unless it allowed her to avoid someone. With a bit of hesitation, Cheryl pushed herself off of the couch and went into the kitchen to be faced with the other girl's back.

Silence once again took over and Cheryl wasted no time in leaning against the counter in wait of Toni to run out of things to clean.

At one point or another, the water shut off and Toni went to steady herself using her hands as supports on the rim of the sink in front of her. A sigh escaped her lips as she mustered up the courage to turn around and try once again to speak to the girl who seemed unwilling to give the answers that Toni wanted.

“Why are you here Cheryl?” Once again, the question rung in Cheryl’s ears like a song she couldn’t get out of her head. This led her to thinking of the answer that she’d been trying to find since the first asking of the question.

“You went to the kitchen, so I followed you.” The immediate look of disapproval that rested on Toni’s face was indication enough to let Cheryl know that she’d given the wrong answer.

“Just leave. If you don’t want to tell me why you’re here, just get out.” With the conclusion of her statement, Toni walked out of the kitchen and began to venture down the hallway connected to the living room.

Cheryl continued to follow for reasons she couldn’t discern. Following Toni led to what Cheryl guessed to be Toni’s room. When she had been here last they’d stayed in the living room so she couldn’t be too sure. Toni saw her enter and with a groan of complete exhaustion turned to face Cheryl as she halted a few steps in front of the door.

“Are your ears broken along with your brain? Seriously! What kind of privileged nonsense did they feed you in the Blossom house for you to not understand when it’s time to go? When someone says leave, how hard is it to just go?” Toni was getting more and more irritated. Silence took over Cheryl again. She wasn’t sure if she was trying to think or simply trying to not upset Toni anymore, neither seemed to work.

“And now you’re silent. Once again. You know, I really don’t like talking to myself this much but it seems like whenever you’re around I always do it more than I prefer. Thanks for that Red.” Toni shook her head, partially because she didn’t know what else to do when faced with utter irritation and partially because she’d been upset at herself to let the familiar nickname slip.

“I don’t know what to say around you anymore.” The words escaped Cheryl without hesitation. They were the only things floating around in her mind for her to grab onto and formulate into a sentence. The statement itself led to Toni raising her head with a look of confusion. There was no anger to be found which seemed odd to Cheryl.

“Once upon a time, you never ran out of things to say to me.” Toni’s tone had been quelled and one could almost say she spoke with a hint of compassion. Cheryl failed to notice this, but did take note of the way the atmosphere around them seemed to calm.

“I guess part of me believes I’ve done enough. You’re the one who’s suffered, so why shouldn’t you be allowed to speak instead of me? I don’t think I deserve to talk anymore.” Cheryl bowed her head to avoid Toni’s eyes.

“Fine then. Don’t say anything.” Cheryl was about to look at Toni when she felt a hand being placed onto the side of her neck and her chin being lifted with the placement of a thumb.

Cheryl locked eyes with Toni. Something had changed within Toni's eyes. They no longer seemed to hold the hatred that had been staring into Cheryl since they’d met at the party. Now, a warmth that reminded her of the days when they’d been a pair seemed to etch its way back into the gaze that met her own.

Toni noticed the look in Cheryl’s eyes as she stared into her own and smiled seeing the surprise. It came to Toni’s realization that it was increasingly possible that Cheryl hadn’t seen one sincere glance from Toni in the past two years and the feeling each of them had by meeting each other’s eyes in a way that wasn’t hostile was something more sentimental than either cared to admit.

With that, Toni brought her lips closer to Cheryl’s. At first she only brushed them against the taller girl’s mouth, but slowly the brushing became short pecks which turned into drawn out interlocking of the two pairs of lips now dancing to a rhythm neither had heard in some time.

However, the more Toni kissed Cheryl, the more the anger inside of her built up. The once pleasant pressing of her lips towards the other girl’s became more forceful, she clasped onto Cheryl’s neck scratching harshly at the back where her fingers rested.

“I’m sorry.” Toni broke the kiss while resting her forehead against Cheryl’s. Cheryl was still in a state of shock and had yet to open her eyes while her lips remained parted.

“I’m too angry.” Toni barely choked out her statement. She wanted to ignore everything that had happened in the past two years and focus on the one thing she’d been wanting since it was taken from her, but something in her kept nagging.

It was like a thread of her was caught on the anger she held and as she tugged against it to try and free herself, the only thing that occurred was the further unraveling of herself.

“I want to forget. I want everything to be the same, but I’m so angry.” Toni let go of her tears as she shut her eyes and attempted to get away from Cheryl.

The sound of Toni’s words becoming mixed with tears pulled Cheryl from her place of shock. Just as Toni was beginning to pull away Cheryl grasped her face similarly to how Toni had to her only moments before.

“It’s alright.” Cheryl punctuated her statement with a simple kiss to Toni’s forehead. Using her thumb, Cheryl wiped the tears that had begun to fall and Toni closed her eyes and stopped trying to move away.

“I understand.” This time Cheryl kissed Toni’s nose and pulled her closer.

“Whatever you need.” Cheryl’s lips landed on Toni’s and left a lingering kiss before Toni retreated and placed her forehead on Cheryl’s while closing her eyes. Both girls stood like that for some time. With their eyes closed, the air around them seemed to dissipate and all that was left was the two of them together.

“Thank you.” Toni placed her hands on Cheryl’s hips and pulled her even closer than before. She moved her forehead from the other girl’s and proceeded to place her lips onto the one’s in front of her.

The kiss itself started gentle. It was a futile attempt by Toni to convince herself that she could ignore her anger. She couldn’t.

The kiss began to get more heated. With Toni gripping onto Cheryl as though she was holding on for her life. Cheryl didn’t mind. Instead, she kept up a soft massage of her fingertips against the back of Toni’s neck acting as the slowed beat to contrast Toni’s quickened tempo.

Toni began to walk the pair back to the bed before twirling them to have Cheryl between her and the mattress. Toni straddled Cheryl’s waist but with the new found freedom of her hands, she found great pleasure in pushing Cheryl’s two wrists together above her head.

Cheryl had almost forgotten how strong Toni could be when she wanted to be. Cheryl could tell that it made Toni feel better though. In a way, Cheryl assumed that after losing every sense of control for the past two years, any opportunity to gain it back was something Toni took advantage of.

Toni didn’t bother questioning what Cheryl was thinking. As her free hand began trailing down Cheryl’s side, the only thing on her mind was how bothersome the top on Cheryl was.

“I want this off.” Toni’s voice was lower now and when Cheryl looked into her eyes, she saw nothing but lust. She understood though. This wasn’t about her. This was all she had left to give Toni.

“Do you want to take it off or should I?” Cheryl matched Toni’s tone. She didn’t fail to miss the glimmer of shock that just barely crossed Toni’s face. It wasn’t long before Toni returned to her previous self though.

“You worry about the shirt. I’ll take care of the skirt.” Toni ended her statement with a simple kiss planted onto Cheryl’s lips. Her tone wouldn’t show it, but that kiss was enough to tell Cheryl that everything was fine. This was still Toni. It was just the side of Toni that she had helped to cultivate.

Following Toni’s command, Cheryl used the release of her hands to pull her shirt up and over her head. It was then thrown somewhere into the room, but Cheryl didn’t care to clock where that was.

Given that she had some time, Cheryl propped herself up on her elbows to glance at Toni. The girl had managed to get Cheryl’s skirt hallway down her legs, but seemed distracted by the expanse of skin she’d just uncovered.

Cheryl smiled at the thought that she could still distract the other girl and decided that if there was ever a time to be cocky it was now.

“Like what you see?” Toni’s head jerked up from where she’d been admiring Cheryl’s legs. At this point she noticed that the upper half of the girl she’d been so shamelessly gawking at had now been revealed. After a brief moment of processing, Toni recognized what Cheryl had been getting at. The thought brought back her lust that had been momentarily lost.

“That depends.” Toni spoke as she finished removing Cheryl’s skirt. Toni began to crawl on top of Cheryl leaving Cheryl no choice but to inch back farther onto the bed from where she’d been hanging off the edge.

“Do you like what you feel?” Toni finally spoke again once the pair had gotten to the center of the bed. At first Cheryl was confused and was about to answer as such, but then she felt a hand being place on her right breast. Her words were caught in her throat completely as the hand began to squeeze at the breast it had just grasped onto.

Toni continued to massage Cheryl’s breast into her hand over the top of her bra as her mouth found its way to Cheryl’s neck. With little hesitation, Toni began kissing at the base of Cheryl’s neck before working her way up to her pulse point.

Every few kisses lead to a nip from Toni’s teeth that only made Cheryl expose her neck even more. With Toni pampering her in such a way, Cheryl couldn't help the reflex of her hands finding their way onto Toni’s back, but the action quickly proved to be a bad one.

Toni halted everything she was doing in favor of pinning Cheryl’s hands to the bed. Cheryl gasped at the sudden move and winced as Toni began digging her nails into the flesh around her wrists.

“You don’t get to touch me. I don’t want you too. If I do, I’ll tell you, but until then keep your hands away from me.” Toni sounded angry. Cheryl was almost afraid as she shook her head in agreeance, but the soft look in Toni’s eyes as she kissed her lips calmed Cheryl. She understood why Toni was being like this, and she knew there was nothing to fear.

With Cheryl agreeing to her wishes, Toni went back to doing what she had been, but this time her free hand found itself roaming down Cheryl’s back. With each stroke Toni allowed her nails to press harder and harder into Cheryl’s skin.

Cheryl arched her back allowing Toni more access. In an odd way, knowing that this was somehow helping Toni made it more pleasurable. It was by no means what Cheryl was used to, but she didn’t quite mind it either.

As the strokes on her back reached the extent of what Toni was willing to do, Cheryl noticed that Toni’s hand had started inching further up her back. Without her having time to process, Cheryl felt her bra strap being unclasped and the hand being removed from over top her breast that had been receiving attention up until this point.

“This was in my way.” Toni spoke this more so to herself than Cheryl, but Cheryl still found herself nodding in agreement. With the upper undergarment removed, Cheryl found that the hand once on her right breast returned, but with the clothing barrier now removed the pleasure she achieved from it extended far beyond what it had before.

Toni looked at Cheryl and saw that her eyes had closed. She was content with this amount of pleasure. Toni didn’t want that. She wanted Cheryl to be overwhelmed.  
Cheryl was just starting to feel comfortable when a new sensation hit her. Opening her eyes with a jolt, she glanced down and saw that Toni had placed her mouth onto the top of her left breast.

Even when they’d messed around in the past, Toni was never one to get very close and personal. She’d always been the type to want mutual touching and caring and Cheryl was fine with that. If both of them could be happy at once, it didn’t matter to her. This though, this was new.

As Toni got settled onto her place on Cheryl’s breast, she maneuvered her hand to be at an angle allowing her thumb to press onto Cheryl’s nipple. While this occurred, Toni began to swirl her tongue around the nipple her mouth was currently surrounding.

Cheryl was taken by the sensations she was feeling. She’d been with others during their time apart, both male and female, but nothing any of them had done felt this good. Cheryl felt herself let out a low groan in praise of Toni’s actions as she gripped onto the covers in an attempt not to touch Toni.

Hearing Cheryl, Toni smiled and continued her assault on Cheryl’s breast. A new found confidence surrounded Toni and she felt as though Cheryl was finally comfortable with everything that was going on. Knowing this, Toni no longer tried to restrain herself.

Cheryl was enjoying the current feelings she was having when a sharp pain was introduced to her left nipple. She quickly recognized this as Toni biting at her nipple and just as she was about to ask for the pain to stop, she felt Toni’s tongue swipe over the entire area numbing the pain she’d felt prior.

This continued for a while as Toni continued to press and push at the nipple on Cheryl’s right breast. All Cheryl could feel was the ever increasing sensation on her left breast. With every bite, her nipple became more sensitive which increased the pleasure given from the next bite.

Cheryl didn’t fail to notice the way her inner thighs had long ago begun to heat up to an unbearable temperature due to the attention her breasts were receiving. Toni didn’t fail to notice either as she lowered herself onto the core of the girl beneath her.

With a simple role of her hips Toni watched as Cheryl shuttered at the contact. Seeing this, she understood that a much different part of Cheryl needed her attention.  
Toni took her time in disconnecting her hand from Cheryl’s right breast, but let go of her left with an abrupt pop. Slowly, Toni made her way down to Cheryl’s core. Cheryl was able to prop herself up on her elbows to watch as Toni made her decent.

“Now, now Cher. It seems like you’re a bit eager for something.” Toni spoke with the same tone that Cheryl had grown accustomed to whenever they were in situations like these. What Cheryl wasn’t used to was the slow swipe of Toni’s finger up her clothed slit.

“Toni - “ Cheryl let out the word in a breath as her head fell back onto the pillow behind her.

“What is it Cheryl?” Another swipe of Toni’s finger, this time going down, passed into Cheryl’s senses. "Is there something wrong?” This time nothing occurred. Cheryl looked up only as Toni completely cupped her sex into her hand.

“Toni please!” Cheryl screamed out as her head fell back onto the pillow and her hands returned to gripping at the covers beneath her.

“Not yet.” Toni hissed at Cheryl as she tightened her grip on Cheryl’s lower region. This led Cheryl to gasp as she bit her bottom lip.

Before Cheryl could open her eyes, she felt the bed move as Toni seemingly got off of it. This caused Cheryl to open her eyes in concern, but as she did, Cheryl was greeted with the sight of Toni removing the clothes she’d been wearing up until now.

The sight made Cheryl’s mouth dry and Toni practically saw it happen. Seeing that she had an audience, Toni took extra time in removing her bra and underwear. Cheryl didn’t take her eyes off the other girl even once.

“Like what you see?” Toni asked mocking Cheryl’s tone from earlier. Cheryl could do nothing but nod slowly as she watched Toni approach her. Toni crawled slowly back towards the area she’d left and removed the underwear still covering what she was after.

Cheryl could feel how wet she was at this point, but despite this internal knowledge, Toni didn’t seem to want to let her forget it.

“God Cheryl. If you were so excited you should have said something.” The lustful tone once again consumed Toni’s voice. Cheryl was very much in awe of the abrupt changes the girl could make, but didn’t mind a bit.

“Now, I’ve always wondered something.” Cheryl grew confused as Toni tilted her head as if gearing up to ask a question.

“I’ve always wondered if I could get you to beg for me to fuck you.”

Cheryl gulped at Toni’s words. The flood of wetness that coated her thighs was proof that Toni had gotten to her and Toni knew it.

“Don’t tell me you like dirty talk.” Toni asked cynically with another tilt of her head. Cheryl averted her eyes from Toni's as she attempted to control herself.

“What would the school say if they found out their sharp-tongued Bombshell, the Cheryl Blossom, was just a dirty little bitch begging to be fucked by yours truly? I’d say they’d be pretty shocked, wouldn’t you?” Cheryl had been so captured by Toni’s gaze that she’d neglected to notice the slow movement of Toni’s hand towards her core.

As soon as Toni finished her statement she grabbed onto Cheryl’s clit and roughly pinched it without any warning. Cheryl let out of scream followed by a moan as Toni began rubbing her clit between her fingers.

“Do you like that Cheryl? What about this?” Toni ran her finger closer and closer to Cheryl’s entrance but didn’t enter. Instead she circled around the outside careful not to go too far in as to not give Cheryl exactly what she wanted.

A moan escaped Cheryl’s lips as she clutched onto the sheets even harder than she had been. Part of her was determined to not give Toni the pleasure of making her beg though. She had to keep some semblance of pride. She was a Blossom after all.

“You can’t fool me bitch. Your pretty little cunt isn’t helping you on that front.” Toni’s mouth was getting fouler and Cheryl couldn’t help but get turned on by it. Something about hearing a completely different side of Toni was so intriguing to her and her body showed it.

“All you have to do is beg. Then all of this can feel even better than it does now. All the teasing will stop. I promise.” Toni almost sounded sweet for a moment but another pinch of Cheryl’s clit led her to believe otherwise.

“Toni, please. Just hurry up.” Cheryl did her best attempt at begging, but it wasn’t exactly something that came naturally for her.

“Cher, I told you. I want begging. Not a request.” Toni sighed but quickly found herself moaning as Toni inserted her finger just a bit farther down into her core.  
“Come on Cheryl, you know what you have to say.”

“God dammit! Fuck me Toni. Please just fuck me already!” Cheryl hoped that was enough. She didn’t think she could relinquish much more of her pride.

“Are you sure you can’t do better than that Bombshell?” Toni once again pinched her clit but this time, her other hand went up to start pinching at her nipple. Cheryl couldn’t take it anymore. She knew that if she wanted any relief she would have to do just as Toni wanted. Giving up on the idea of holding onto her pride, Cheryl tried once more.

“I want you to fuck me Toni. However you want, just fuck me already. I seriously can’t take this anymore.” Cheryl knew that it wasn’t perfect and that Toni was probably looking for specifics, but if she was being honest she genuinely didn’t care anymore.

“Always so indecisive, but fine.” Toni reluctantly agreed to allow Cheryl the relief she’d been asking for.

Without warning, Toni inserted three fingers into Cheryl. Cheryl barely had time to adjust before Toni started pumping at full speed. Cheryl started to meet Toni’s hand and the bed hit against the wall with every movement.

Cheryl released a moan as Toni managed to hit a particularly sensitive part of her and as Toni continued to hit that point, Cheryl felt her legs start to shake.  
A swelling pressure rose in her stomach and as she took a breath a sudden burst came from her. Cheryl screamed Toni’s name as she came and attempted to control her breathing in spite of her body’s wishes.

As the aftershock of her orgasm ran through her, Cheryl began taking heavy breaths while her eyes remained closed. She felt the bed shift and lost all of her air when she felt Toni straddle her thigh. By doing this, Toni’s thigh also collided with Cheryl’s already sensitive core.

“Wait Toni, just give me a second.” Cheryl begged but Toni seemed unfazed. She began rubbing down on Cheryl’s thigh without a word of warning and with every movement, her own thigh pressed into Cheryl.

“Toni this is too much. I just - “ Cheryl released a high pitched scream as Toni increased her pressure and speed. At that point, Cheryl realized that any attempt at stopping Toni was out of reach.

The room was silent except for the sounds coming from either girl. No words were spoken and both preferred it that way. In little time, both girls found themselves at an orgasm that shook both of them by its intensity.

With both girls exhausted, Toni collapsed onto Cheryl and both fell asleep without much care for the mess they’d made or the emotions they’d have to talk about later.  
Neither of the two girls in the room would admit it, but they hadn’t fallen asleep so easily in years. Both would later blame it on being exhausted, but internally, they knew it was because they were sleeping next to one another.


	4. Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the morning after and too many emotions seem to populate the space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again with the exposition/plot driving nonsense. I’m well aware that people are here for the smut. Make no mistake. I am here for it too, but please bare with me because while I know no one wants to read this I PROMISE some good “wholesome” fun in the next update if you catch my drift ;) Thanks for the patience pals

If it wasn’t for the alarm blaring from her phone, Cheryl might have never woken up from the dream she’d been having. It was as though fate was playing some cruel trick on her by plucking her away right at the moment that she most wanted to stay.

She’d dreamt of Toni. She’d dreamt of her eyes and her skin and her hands. She’d dreamt of the way Toni’s mouth had attached itself to her own in a mixture of hunger and desperation while her mind flew in a fury of passion and lust.

Cheryl had liked her dream very much.

Upon starting to open her eyes, Cheryl noticed that light was already streaming into them. Confusion set in as Cheryl remembered that she’d come during the afternoon and any alarm of hers was set to go off in the morning. That’s when it hit her that it must, in fact, be morning once more.

Taking a breath in attempt to wake herself more, Cheryl noticed the weight that had settled itself on her chest. It wasn’t crushing or even uncomfortable, but it was strange.

With another rally of great effort, Cheryl managed to open a single eye even in her drowsy state. The image in front of her brought back more memories than she cared to admit.

On top of her chest laid the pink haired beauty she’d only just been dreaming about. The girl’s face was hidden by her hair, but the slow pacing of air moving itself across Cheryl’s chest allowed her to know that the other girl was still asleep.

The night hit her in a rush. All the events leading up to the now naked girl lying on top of her seemed more like a hazy fantasy than a true memory. Everything that transpired the night prior had been something Cheryl had been silently hoping for ever sense they ceased two years prior.

Smiling to herself, Cheryl became aware once more of the alarm that had been going off for a while. The fact that the annoying sound hadn’t managed to wake the sleeping girl on top of her almost made Cheryl laugh, but realizing the position she was in she decided against it.

With a slow reach, Cheryl managed to grab the phone that was whistling off before turning it off and placing it beside the pillow where her head sat.

Seeing as she was the only one awake between the pair in the room, Cheryl took it on herself to analyze the features of the girl she’d once known like the back of her hand.

To do this however, a few loose strands of hair had to be moved to the other side of Toni’s face. The action felt far more intimate to Cheryl than it should have. After the night they had prior, it was as if she was breaking a more intense character in order to satisfy the part of her heart that remained open for this particular individual; remained open for Toni.

As her fingers traced the outline of Toni’s jaw line in an attempt to remove the hair in her way, Cheryl felt a slight wiggle from the other girl. Fearing being caught in her less than sexual action, Cheryl stilled instantly and stiffened in attempts of not waking the other girl further.

After waiting a few minutes with no further movements from the other girl, Cheryl finished moving the girl’s hair out of the way before placing her hands at either said of her, in no way touching Toni.

Cheryl took a few more minutes to admire the girl above her. The way her pink tresses spread gracefully onto her back and slightly onto the bed from the length made Cheryl all that more happy.

Placing her once removed hands onto the sides of Toni’s waist, she attempted to push the girl off her stomach gently, but when her strength proved useless Cheryl realized that all she could do was wake up the other.

Thankfully, that wasn’t quite needed.

“What are you doing?” The voice shocked Cheryl from her thoughts of planning to move Toni. She had to take a moment to think before answering.

“I’m trying to get up.” Toni didn’t respond, but instead planted her hands firmly on either side of Cheryl’s head before pushing up and rolling to the right.

The new freedom her body felt was painful in a way. Although her entire intention had been to remove Toni from herself, the other girl’s willingness to do that for her was slightly disheartening. 

Cheryl took a deep breath before moving to get up, but was interrupted by Toni’s voice.

“Cheryl, we need to talk.” The phrase was a scary one. Originally, Cheryl had been at the delivering end of such a statement, now it seemed that the tables had turned between the two of them.

“But we can talk after breakfast.” With that Toni got up in a quick blur that Cheryl was sure she could’ve missed if her blinking had been timed right. She wasn’t sure that she’d even seen correctly until the empty bed was the only sight she was met with.

With a sigh, Cheryl made it into the bathroom that was opposite the bedroom and, between getting ready in some fashion, was repetitively wishing away the ending of whatever breakfast Toni had mentioned.

Toni stood in the kitchen completely naked after attempting to get out of the room as fast as possible. Not knowing what else to do, she immediately curled up beside the cabinets facing away from the entrance to the hallway.

Her body felt broken. Maybe broken was the wrong term. It felt more like she was in a hostile takeover between her mind and what the rest of her body kept trying to do. The warring sides of her left little room for comfort and no room for the feelings her heart was conjuring up.

For so long she’d pushed away the feelings that had overtaken her the night before. She’d screamed so loud just to drown them out and now it was as if a mussel had been placed on the rational side of her.

Cheryl was never supposed to get to her again, but not much can be said for what had already been done. The way the other girl stared at her with those eyes glossed over in a blissful ignorance of themselves and the way her lips curved when she thought of something she liked more so than when she saw it.

All of that had been reintroduced into Toni’s life so recently and she hadn’t been prepared. How could she be? People always go with the path of least resistance and after spending so long in attempts to forget someone it’s only natural to go the easier way of remembering them better than you ever had.

Toni felt her eyes beginning to well with tears. Her throat had begun to feel scratchy and raw, but she wouldn’t allow herself to feel this. This was the one thing she could still control.

Mentally deciding that enough was enough, Toni washed up using the sink in the kitchen before grabbing a t-shirt and shorts from the laundry room.

Cheryl wasn’t far behind. After cleaning the sticky mess that coated her thighs and washing her face of the makeup she definitely shouldn’t have slept in, Cheryl began to feel like a human being again.

Exiting the bathroom, she noticed that Toni hadn’t seemed to return to the room and worried that she’d truly been left alone. With the sound of a television coming from the living room though, Cheryl knew she wasn’t by herself just yet.

Grabbing a loose fitting top she saw laying on the floor, Cheryl quickly realized the she’d be severely undressed in her current state. Looking around the room she noticed a closet and a few other pieces of clothes randomly thrown around, but something in her told her that going through Toni’s things, even if for simple reasons, would be less than preferred.

Accepting her fate, Cheryl exited the room and moved down the hallway and into the living room with a zoned out Toni staring at the screen in front of her.  
Cheryl was careful to sit at the very opposite end of the couch from Toni. This caused Toni to glance up at the other girl before laughing quietly to herself. Cheryl just so happened to notice this.

“What?” Cheryl attempted to not sound defensive, but the entire situation of being in Toni’s trailer after what transpired last night made her feel entirely too vulnerable.

“Nothing, it’s just…you know we had sex last night, right?” Cheryl felt her face heat up with Toni’s bluntness and she turned her head away to avoid any more patronizing. In hindsight, sitting close together on the couch would probably be the least intimate thing they’d done in the past few hours.

Seeing Cheryl turn her head out of embarrassment, Toni couldn’t stifle her much louder laugh. This caused Cheryl to quickly whip her head around to stare intently at Toni as if begging her to understand her motives. When Toni only continued laughing, Cheryl felt the need to explain herself.

“Look, I was just trying to be…” Cheryl halted her speech feeling like her words matched an entirely different situation. This did halt Toni’s laughter though, and instead replaced it with a grimacing look directed at Cheryl.

“What? To be respectful, kind, maybe nice? I’m angry Cheryl. Not broken.” Toni’s words lashed at Cheryl like claws. It was obvious that she’d struck a chord, but the words Toni spoke were less a jab at Cheryl and more a way of convincing herself of what she knew to be a lie.

“Look, I’m sorry. This all a bit…strange…after all these years.” Toni couldn’t debate this. She instead settled on allowing her eyes to return to the television and a silence took over the room.

After some time, Toni got up without a word a walked silently into the kitchen.

As soon as Toni reached the kitchen, she was quick to open the fridge a pull out what Cheryl quickly identified as a pizza box before she proceeded to grab a slice from inside of it. She took a bite while still holding the box.

Toni made a glance into Cheryl’s eyes, silently beckoning her into the kitchen where Cheryl found a pizza box shoved in her direction still without a word.

Looking up to see that Toni wasn’t looking at her anymore after handing her the box, Cheryl opened it and pulled out the one remaining slice before placing the box on the counter behind her. Toni looked up long enough to see this as with the box being placed down, Toni continued eating her slice. 

Both girls remained in the kitchen eating away at their pizza until finally, as had occurred last night, there was nothing else to eat and nothing else to look at.  
“So…we need to talk about…last night.” Toni spoke in a hesitant voice that took Cheryl off guard given her previous confidence.

“Yeah, I guess we do.” Cheryl, with an equally hesitant voice, replied only to watch Toni shift awkwardly in place. 

“I’m sorry.” Cheryl was once again taken off guard by Toni’s statement. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what Toni was apologizing for. “I’m sorry that I let my anger get the best of me last night and forced you into stuff that you weren’t comfortable with.

Cheryl was certain that her and Toni must have been talking about different occasions as she by no means showed any signs of discomfort last night. If anything, she was certain she’d been a bit more agreeable than even she was used to.

“Toni, you don’t need to apologize for anything. You didn’t make me do anything I didn’t want to do last night.” Cheryl had to fight off the urge to walk over to the girl and place a hand on her shoulder as a sign of reassurance, but when she saw the girl obviously not believing her, she couldn’t stop herself.

She placed her hand carefully onto Toni’s shoulder, being wary of any move made by Toni to distance them, but when Toni only seemed to lean more towards Cheryl, the courage sprang in Cheryl to start sliding her hand up and down Toni’s arm as a continued display of sincerity.

“You still shouldn’t have been subjected to that anger. I should’ve done a better job at controlling myself.” Cheryl shook her head at this. Toni’s eyes were turned down not allowing her to see the action, but Cheryl was absolutely certain she had to get the point across.

“Toni, I’m the one who should be apologizing. You’re making it sound like you’re angry for nothing and you’re not. I know you feel like that angry part of you is wrong, but it isn’t. It’s exactly the part you should feed into when with me, because right now, I deserve it.”

Toni’s face remained stunned for a while. Cheryl wasn’t quite sure when it got to be that way, but it didn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

“I’m not blaming you Toni. I’m not asking for an apology. I’m asking you to let it out. Anything that you feel you need to. Throw it at me. I can take it, for you.” Toni’s tears that she once fought back began to pool in her eyes.

Try as she might, the anger that Cheryl left her with wasn’t something she could shake. For the past two years, she’d attempted every tip on forgiveness, read ever book, examined every solution. All she managed to do was realize that nothing worked.

With the opportunity presenting itself so well before her to let go, even for a moment, Toni couldn’t miss it. Even as her brain screamed at her to stop, her mouth moved of its own accord.

“I hate you.”


	5. To Hate Someone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With confessions made, what more is there to say?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly don’t know why I keep posting these so close together because A) no one wants to read this much of the same thing in a day and B) I just end up running out of posts sooner than later. Great. But heyyyyyyy who doesn’t want some good old orgasm denial thrown into the mix of Choni Kinks 101??? Yeah. That’s what I thought my perverted pals

“I hate you.”

I.

Hate.

You.

The words forced their way into Cheryl and settled in her gut. They tugged at her heart and scratched at her stomach. Making their way to her head, they finally resonated and she realized just how sick the phrase made her feel.

Toni was crying now. The tears were quiet, no sobbing could be seen or heard, but the tears that fell were less out of pain and more out of tension. Everything that Toni had been keeping pushed back about the younger girl sitting in front of her ran towards the surface had broken free like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon.

Cheryl took a step back in shock. Her mind was racing yet coming to no conclusions. All she heard were those words over and over again. They were like a mantra she’d always known that the other girl harbored, but refused to let slip from her lips.

Now, they didn’t need to exit her mouth again to be heard. They were already here.

Toni watched as Cheryl processed. She hadn’t meant to cause this, but that was the first thing that came to her mind about Cheryl. She hadn’t moved past it for so long that just uttering it felt like a leap forward.

Despite the tears she felt leaving trails down her face, Toni almost felt numb. The one thing that had been driving her for so long was suddenly out in the open. She had no purpose anymore. The hate she’d felt was such a grounding factor of herself that it was like she’d now been pushed off balance.

“You hate me.” Cheryl spoke more so to herself than to Toni. Toni lowered her head at the way it sounded, but couldn’t bring herself to deny the claim.

“You hurt me.” That was all Toni could think to say. She couldn’t be bothered to explain herself. She knew Cheryl probably understood more about what she meant than she’d like too.

It wasn’t as if they were talking about separate things. Despite the obscurity, each new the occasions they referenced but felt it best to only acknowledge them indirectly. Why dredge up the past any more than they already had after all?

“You know what, I know I hurt you. I was actually talking to Josie about this and --” Cheryl stopped herself after letting Josie’s name slip. It wasn’t so much the name that made her quiet down, but the look on Toni’s face made her question saying anything at all.

“Glad to know you guys pulled your friendship back together.” Toni’s head was ducked, but Cheryl was sure if she could see her eyes right now they’d be staring daggers into her.

“Yeah. We did actually. She sort of became my rock.” The last part was practically whispered by Cheryl. While she knew that she was probably only twisting the knife deeper, she couldn’t stop herself for praising the girl who’d been such a good friend to her.

“Glad to know you weren’t alone.” Nothing about Toni’s voice sounded like she was pleased in the slightest by the information. As she attempted to walk past Cheryl, the vibe became that much more prevalent.

“Toni wait…” Cheryl stepped in front of the other girl blocking her path, but the eyes that met hers made her question such a bold choice.

“Why did you get to have someone? Why is that? You got everything and someone to help you deal with it? Oh, but I suppose it must have been hard getting everything you wanted and some. I mean seriously, that’s ridiculous! Does karma not know you exist? For fucks sake!” Toni was fuming and Cheryl saw the red haze in her eyes.  
Not realizing what she was doing until it was too late. Cheryl approached Toni and entered her space before drawing her lips close to Toni’s ear.

“What do you want?” Toni felt the wind get knocked out of her at Cheryl’s words. She knew what the other girl was implying, but the way Cheryl said it, made it seem as though if Toni wanted to drop everything and go have a milkshake at Pop’s she’d be more than happy to assist with that as well.

Toni decided on the first option though.

Before Cheryl could get a verbal response she felt hands roughly grip her hips before pushing them into the countertop behind her.

Toni’s body went flush with Cheryl’s and as the two stood as one, Toni took it upon herself to begin showering Cheryl’s neck and upper chest with open mouthed kisses.

Cheryl could feel Toni’s teeth move across her skin, becoming harsher with each bite occasionally feeling as if Toni was attempting to break skin. That pain was suppressed though at the feeling of a warm tongue passing over the top of the punished areas.

Cheryl closed her eyes; allowing herself to feel everything that was happening. Cheryl’s breath had begun going ragged as open-mouthed kisses trickled down her body. Toni’s hair now tickled Cheryl’s chin as the other girls was busy marking Cheryl’s throat with bruises that no concealer was powerful enough to cover.

Cheryl felt the way Toni’s hands had started to creep under her shirt and she was comforted by their gentle menstruations at her hips in contrast to the harsh kisses being thrown at her neck.

The comfort stopped when she felt Toni’s hands leave her hips to connect with the backs of her thighs though. With a tight squeeze, Cheryl got the hint and jumped. By doing so she quickly found herself on the counter she’d previously been pushed against with Toni settling between her legs.

Toni’s kissing had been halted due to the new height difference, so instead she found a new target.

“Take off the shirt or I’m ripping it off.” Toni’s tone was emotionless and Cheryl realized that she was all too serious. Cheryl also noticed the way Toni didn’t look into her eyes as she spoke and instead stared intently at the breasts before her. 

Without missing a beat, Cheryl removed the one piece of clothing that she’d been wearing up until now. Toni didn’t seem stunned like she had the night before. Instead, the look she held was almost sinister.

“You haven’t been wearing any underwear this whole time? It’s like you’ve been waiting for me to fuck you on this counter.” Toni finished her statement by roughly grabbing onto Cheryl’s right nipple and pinching it between her fingers.

Cheryl whined slightly as a heat began to form between her thighs. Allowing her head to fall back, Cheryl embraced the feeling of Toni playing with her in such a way.

With Cheryl’s eyes shut in ecstasy, Toni took the opportunity to take Cheryl’s other nipple into her mouth and bite it with only a little less the intensity at which she’d peppered Cheryl’s neck.

Cheryl groaned as she looked up to see her breast being encased by Toni’s mouth. The biting had left and now a tongue was carefully tracing the outline of Cheryl’s nipple, only occasionally running over top.

Cheryl was so overcome with that sensation that she missed Toni’s hand trailing down her body towards her heated core.

Toni was careful to bite down again on Cheryl’s nipple just as she ran a finger through Cheryl’s slick folds. Seeing how it distracted the other girl, Toni thought it best to use such a trick for her own means.

As planned, Cheryl was so overcome by the sensations being dealt by Toni’s mouth as she soothed the area she’d been punishing that she’d completely missed Toni’s hand infiltrating her most precious zone.

With the same suddenness that it began with, Toni released Cheryl’s nipple and instead brought her finger towards Cheryl’s lips.

“Lick it.” Cheryl was confused by the request. Toni had never done anything like this, but the look in Toni’s eyes told Cheryl not to question it.

Delicately, Cheryl leaned closer to Toni’s finger while never taking her questioning eyes off of Toni’s. If Cheryl had taken her eyes off of Toni she might have noticed the way the finger before her shined slightly in the light.

Cheryl took Toni’s finger into her mouth and sucked gently before wrapping her tongue around the digit she’d been given.

The taste was one she was immediately familiar with. Looking at Toni with confusion, Cheryl continued licking away at Toni’s finger. How had she managed to get that on her finger?

“Do you like the taste of yourself you bitch? You would wouldn’t you? Such a selfish bitch.”

Cheryl realized that Toni probably wasn’t talking about sex anymore, but decided to ignore it for the time being as Toni was attempting to pull her finger out of Cheryl’s mouth.

Allowing her to do so, Cheryl felt empty as Toni backed away from her and observed. It was only then that Cheryl realized just how displayed she must be at the moment.

Her legs left open where Toni had once been and her neck and breasts abused but on alert after the attention they received. Her hands were propping her up from behind leaving her breast even more exposed.

“You are such a bitch, you know that? Just displaying yourself like that without a care in the world.” Toni began to creep towards Cheryl. When within reach, her hands were placed on Cheryl’s knees and they dragged upwards as Toni got closer. “You just love getting fucked don’t you?”

Toni was now back to her previous position, if not closer, and Cheryl could feel the fabric of the other girl’s shirt grazing her core. It took everything in her not to wrap her legs around Toni and bring her closer, but something told her that that wouldn’t be a good idea.

Without any word, Toni slowly brought her hand towards Cheryl’s core and slowly rubbed her finger up and down along Cheryl’s folds. The slight touching made Cheryl yearn for more, but when each stroke ended with a flick against her clit, she found that talking was increasingly difficult.

Toni watched Cheryl carefully, waiting for the right moment to continue on. When the other girl looked almost fully consumed with the current sensations, Toni knew that the opportunity was now.

Toni quickly took advantage of Cheryl’s state and allowed two of her fingers to plunge deeply inside Cheryl’s core. She didn’t move them but instead watched Cheryl’s face for a reaction.

Cheryl was once again overcome by the other girl and found herself repressing a scream which turned into a muffled moan. She waited for Toni to start moving but when nothing happened, she gave a pleading looking to a rather pleased Toni.

“What? Is something wrong?” Toni asked in an innocent tone as she cocked her head in a questioning way towards Cheryl. Cheryl glared, but then spoke.  
“Yeah, why aren’t you - OH MY GOD!!!” Cheryl screamed as Toni curled her fingers inside of her. Toni smiled widely at Cheryl’s reaction as she straightened her fingers once more and waited for Cheryl to speak.

“A bit of warning would be appreciated.” Cheryl panted out attempting to calm herself after the sudden action.

“Watch out.” Toni spoke normally and Cheryl just barely caught the phrase before the fingers inside of her twisted and left her moaning.

“God dammit Toni.” Cheryl breathlessly spoke as she slouched slightly. Toni smiled even more seeing the effect she was having on the other girl.

“Now, now, what would your friends say if they heard you talking like the little bitch you are? Not as innocent as you like to seem, hmm?” Toni was patronizing her, and Cheryl knew it, but with two fingers inside of her and an increasing desire for the other girl to finish what she started, she reacted.

“They aren’t here so stop acting like they’ll hear me and just fuck me already.” Cheryl practically screamed at Toni as she moved her hips to get her message across.

“Oh, you mean like this?” Toni began thrusting her fingers in and out of Cheryl, being mindful to tap her clit with every thrust. Cheryl hummed in agreement as she started moving her hips in tandem with Toni’s hand.

“Fuck yes. Just like that Toni. I’m so close.” Toni heard these words and realized what she really wanted to do in this moment. Instead of increasing her speed like she normally would, Toni instead removed her fingers all together causing a very confused Cheryl to look at her with an angered expression.

“Toni, what the hell?” Cheryl asked feeling like Toni was up to something.

Instead of an answer, Cheryl received two fingers pressing at her lips. She could smell herself on the two digits and seeing the want in Toni’s eyes, she open her mouth and allowed Toni to insert the fingers.

Instead of just passively waiting for Cheryl to clean up the mess like last time, Toni instead took a more active role. Each time Cheryl would suck at her fingers, Toni made a point to push them into Cheryl’s mouth in a quick motion before drawing them back a bit.

Cheryl wasn’t exactly sure anymore what Toni had on her mind, but the feeling of Toni’s fingers tapping the back of her throat somehow enticed her more. Taking more effort to suck for longer periods, Cheryl quickly finished cleaning up but continued her efforts.

“What a greedy little bitch. So hungry for my fingers that you’ll even let them fuck your throat.” Cheryl moaned with the way Toni’s words were affecting her. Her already wet core now felt like it was making a puddle underneath her and Toni didn’t fail to notice this either.

With one last suck, Cheryl found Toni’s fingers retreating yet again, only this time they didn’t return anywhere.

“You know what, I don’t think you deserve to cum. I think you deserve to think about everything I could do to you. How I could destroy your pretty little cunt so easily with these fingers and then make you clean up after me. You deserve to think about all of that without being able to do anything about it.”

Cheryl sat in shock of what she was hearing. After everything she’d seen of Toni in the past few hours, orgasm denial wasn’t something she’d been expecting.  
With a groan, Cheryl attempted to rub herself down into the counter, but was halted when Toni grabbed her wrists and pulled her down.

“I told you, you don’t get to experience anything. Instead, everything you want, I get to feel.” Toni spoke like she was coming up with this plan on the fly. Cheryl saw the want in her eyes though and conceded.

Cheryl smiled before grabbing onto Toni’s waist and pulling her body into her’s. Toni wiggled out and instead backed up against the small amount of wall space beside the countertops, motioning Cheryl over with her finger before shedding her top.

Cheryl gawked only for a moment before grabbing onto either of Toni’s breast. Cheryl began squeezing at them as Toni moaned in front of her.  
Cheryl noticed that Toni’s eyes were already consumed by lust and wanting to check just how much she was already affected, Cheryl ceased her movements and instead focused on pulling down Toni’s shorts.

Sure enough, with no underwear blocking her view, Cheryl became aware of just how much Toni was enjoying all of this. Smiling to herself, Cheryl met Toni’s eyes again before placing a hand over Toni’s core and moving her fingers gently against the outside folds.

“I’m not in the mood for teasing Cheryl. Do what I told you to.” Cheryl didn’t feel like arguing back as she allowed three of her fingers to enter Toni at a slow pace. Toni winced at first causing Cheryl to stop all movements allowing Toni time to adjust.

“What are you waiting for?” Toni almost growled towards Cheryl, obviously not looking for the same treatment she’d dished out only moments earlier. Complying, Cheryl began moving her fingers at a slow pace before speeding up as Toni started moving along with her.

As time continued going by, Toni moved a leg up to Cheryl’s waist where Cheryl quickly took hold of it giving her better access to Toni’s wanting core. Toni’s voice filled the room as she started humming quietly in pleasure.

After that, it didn’t take long before Cheryl touched a rather sensitive spot within Toni and heard the other girl scream out a line of curses before her fingers were drenched.

Cheryl kept hold of Toni until she recovered from her orgasm before allowing the other girl’s leg to drop. Toni took a few more breaths and then moved to walk away.

Cheryl saw this and realized that she was still very much unsatisfied.

“Wait, Toni, mind helping me out for a second?” Cheryl knew she could get herself off, but why bother when a beautiful sex god stood opposite you?

“I think I’ll pass.” Toni walked around Cheryl and started to exit the kitchen.

“Wait, no, Toni!” Cheryl started walking after Toni, but the other girl turned around with a devilish grin plastered on her face.

“Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it?”


	6. Begin the Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With everything going on, the last thing Cheryl expected was to receive a mysterious black box on her doorstep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I say I wasn’t posting tonight? I swear I said I wasn’t posting tonight. Why am I like this? This is a short update though so apologizes if you were looking for something too remarkable. On the flip side I took this wonderful surprise update to reestablish some bits of this story that might have gotten misplaced in all the *cough* smut *cough*. Also, this story is taking a bit of a different turn. It’s a MYSTERY!!! (no but like seriously. its a mystery story) Still will have the slow burn/angst/smut that you’re looking for, just will a Riverdale twist. Hopefully you’ll see what I mean pals. Enjoy and I’d love to here your thoughts as always

It had been three days since Cheryl had seen Toni. It had been three days sitting, waiting even, for something to collapse on top of her; for the wind to be knocked out of her once more in the worst way possible. Nothing came though. Cheryl couldn’t decide if this was truly the light at the end of the tunnel or simply the eye of a fast approaching storm.

With school starting the day after next, it felt almost inevitable that something would snap. There was too much tension for things to remain unbroken. Even the strongest of materials could crack under extreme pressure and Cheryl knew it. She also knew that whatever it was the Toni and her had at the moment was not strong.

It was only with a knock on the door that Cheryl realized that not everything existed in her head and at some point she’d have to traverse back into the real world. Perhaps that was a mistake though. Cheryl knew that to be true the second she opened the front door of Thistlehouse to a empty view of the front yard and a matte black box sitting on the front step.

A pit formed in Cheryl’s stomach as she leaned down to pick up the box. Feeling the outside of it, Cheryl realized that it must have been made out of wood, but on picking it up, Cheryl found that the box was much heavier than any wooden box should be.

As she stood, an attempt was made to shake the box around, but when nothing inside seemed to slip, the question of its weight became even more puzzling. 

After sufficiently checking the outside of the box to make sure it wasn’t obviously boobytrapped -- one could never be too careful; this is Riverdale after all -- Cheryl ventured back into her home with the box in hand.

Cheryl dropped the box onto the dining room table before sitting down in a chair in front of it. On first glance, nothing seemed to stand out where the outside of the box was concerned. Everything on the surface was painted black and had been smoothed down to create a what Cheryl perceived as a seamless finish.

Ten more minutes of investigation revealed nothing more than what Cheryl already knew and as her frustration grew, so too did her most basic notion to simply smash the box into bits. With five more minutes of staring at the ominous box that was doing nothing more than taking up space on her dining room table, Cheryl had finally had enough. 

Getting up in one fluid motion, Cheryl practically stomped off into the kitchen to find a knife or a rolling pin or something hard enough to break through the puzzle box that seemed to do nothing more than waste her time. On her way back with a much larger than needed frying pan, Cheryl was ready and prepared to go swinging, but as a faint strip of light glittered over the top of the box from the window on the other side of the table, Cheryl realized that the box wasn’t seamless at all.

Laying the frying pan off to the side, Cheryl went back to her original seat in the dining room and carefully feathered her fingertips over the top of the box. While nothing could be seen from her angle, a slight tilt of her head to see the light ghosting over the box in a different way revealed what Cheryl had seen before. 

Without truly meaning to, Cheryl’s finger pressed a bit too much on the intersection of to seams at a corner, but was surprised when she felt the top give a little. Realizing this, Cheryl tried once more in the center of the box and with a bit more pressure. By doing so, inset portion of the box gave way slightly and revealed seams that spanned three of the four sides of the box. 

Cheryl looked at the box for a second more. Half of her was expecting some alien-like creature to come prowling out from within it, but when nothing happened and the alien world remained perfectly alien to Cheryl, a rush of courage took over her and she found her fingers lifting the edges of the box.

As it rose, Cheryl watched a screen come into view. It was a small screen that made up the entire lid of the box, but at least the weight could finally be explained. Nothing else was in the box besides the screen and Cheryl couldn’t quite understand it’s purpose.

“Alright. This has to be the worst Riverdale idea of Netflix that I’ve ever seen.” Cheryl became frustrated once more and grabbed the edges of the box to attempt to shut it, but as a video popped onto the screen before her, Cheryl could do nothing but freeze in place.

If she was being completely honest, the last thing that had been on her mind lately was that party. The night her and Toni reconnected as they had seemed so long ago that to visualize it as it was shown before her felt inherently strange. This wasn’t the memory she had of that night, but the events on screen showed a different story.

What played on screen were three looping video clips. The first, when Cheryl had pulled Toni away from the door and into a kiss. The second, when Toni had pushed her into the wall. The third, when everything had progressed much farther than any video tape should’ve been allowed to capture. 

The clips looped in circles like vultures flying overhead. Cheryl was the prey and she was helpless to any wish they had to consume her very life. She was helpless to protect herself against anything. 

Cheryl continued to watch the clips before her. Something about them made glued her gaze with no hope of looking away. They were neither pleasant nor painful to watch. A more accurate comparison would be like watching a train crash right in front of you. A miserable situation that was equally as captivating as it was horrifying.

To Cheryl’s surprise though, the clips stopped all at once and went to a black screen. Red text began appearing on the screen and Cheryl looked it over as portions of it faded in.

I hope you enjoyed my little tape.

Consider it a welcome back to school gift!

A gift,

With a catch.

The red stained letters that coated the last phrase remained on the screen longer than the others had. Obviously, a point was meant to be made here.

Figure out who I am,

Or this will be released at Homecoming.

The last message wasn’t faded out from the screen. Instead, what appeared to resemble fireworks began popping up behind the letters and continued on leaving a very stunned Cheryl in a less than colorful mood.

“What on earth are you doing?” With the sound of the horrid voice Cheryl had come to associate with her mother, Cheryl instantly found her hands darting up and down to close the lid of the box. Turning to face her mother, Cheryl attempted to wipe the nauseated look off of her face.

“Just enjoying the craftsmanship of Riverdale’s finest Mommy.” Cheryl folded her fingers together and laid her hands on the table in hopes of presenting a normal front. As her mother approached her and the box though, Cheryl’s breathing slowed more and more.

“It looks particularly dreadful.” Penelope ran her fingers across the top of the box for which Cheryl could only be thankful that the seams on top hadn’t been run across.

“Perhaps not the finest of Riverdale’s craftsmanship…” Cheryl trailed off as she glanced at the box. Her mind was flooded with the truth of what that box contained and worry sunk into her very bones as she stared into its black finish.

“Of course it isn’t. Not surprising seeing as it caught your eye.” Penelope didn’t wait for a response and instead walked out of the dining room and off into another part of the house that Cheryl couldn’t be less concerned with. This was normal after all. Insults mixed with casual conversation was the Blossom way, even if it was between those who were meant to be family.

Her mother’s cruelty aside, Cheryl grabbed the box without a second thought and rushed out of the house in search of the one person who was as tied to this as she was. In search of the one person that she couldn’t stop thinking about. The one person she had never stopped thinking about…

No. This was about the box, and Cheryl had to remind herself of that. This was dangerous long before some videographer decided to get creepy and Cheryl would be damned if she let herself get played by another half-baked attempt at blackmail in Riverdale.

This couldn’t be about whatever was happening between her and Toni. This was strictly about finding out whoever this was and tearing into them like a fat-man into a cherry pie. Nothing else.

At least that’s what Cheryl kept repeating to herself as she crossed the tracks with a fluttering feeling growing in her stomach


	7. New Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the box causing a whole new wealth of problems, Cheryl rushes over to Toni's to see what can be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the semi-late posting of this. I know I was doing daily updates their for a while, but I don't think that will be feasible anymore. My goal is to post AT LEAST once a week. Even with school, work, and everything else I still want to give you quality content and I think that's better than quantity. I hope everyone can understand and be patient with me though and thank you for reading regardless. In addition, I love reading your comments. Especially ones about who you think is the mystery box sender so please keep it up with those. They really make my day. Anyway, thanks pals and enjoy a simple, but nice chapter.

Cheryl’s hand tapped a patternless knock into Toni’s front door. Although the bell sat right next to her hand, the urgency seemed to be more pallpable when she knocked it out onto the wooden plank before her.

She didn’t stop knocking until a much to annoyed Toni screamed from inside that she was coming and opened the door only to have a grimace form on her face seeing the visitor before her.

“You have to be joking.” Toni’s voice was laced in sarcasm as she continued to stare at Cheryl with a less than pleased face.

“Not a joke. Really rather important actually.” Cheryl didn’t wait for an invite and instead rushed into the trailer, pushing aside Toni in the process. If she’d been able to see Toni’s face, she might have noticed the defeated expression that crossed the other girl’s features as she shut the front door and turned to see whatever the redhead was doing in her home.

“Alright. What’s with Pandora’s box sitting on my coffee table?” Toni began walking into the living room where Cheryl had already placed the box down and was now sitting on the couch in wait of Toni.

“That is actually a very accurate description of this wooden horror-show.” Cheryl once again waited for Toni as the other girl hadn’t quite caught the hint that she was meant to sit down next to Cheryl to view the box before her.

With a roll of her eyes, Toni joined Cheryl on the couch, still managing to keep a decent amount of space between them, and waited for Cheryl to continue.

“So this was left on my doorstep, of all places, and decided to show a very unwelcomed surprise to yours truly.” Cheryl raddled off what she thought to be a decent explanation.

“Cheryl, stop playing the pronoun game and tell me what’s going on.” Toni’s voice still showed signs only of displeasure as the last thing she was in the mood for was some stupid game of unintentional charades.

“Well the element of anticipation is just completely lost on you isn’t it.” Cheryl would’ve continued on her rant about Toni’s inability to experience the moment had it not been for the look she received from the pink haired girl in addition to remembering what the box contained.

“Forget it. I’ll just show you.” Cheryl grabbed the sides of the lid and lifted it up to reveal the screen within. Toni’s face was instantly one of confusion as she watched the screen come into full view.

Both girls waited for a few moments before Toni finally got fed up. Obviously, the anticipation that was meant to be had was just a silly game of Cheryl’s.

“Haha. Very funny Cheryl. What a great way to waste my time days before we start senior year. You got me, so can you go now?” Toni spoke in a monotone voice as she moved to get up from the couch.

“Wait. No. This isn’t what happened earlier.” Cheryl went frantic spinning the box around and feeling for anything that she’d missed. She even went as far as to open and close the box a few more times perfectly mimicking her steps from earlier in hopes of getting the video to pop up as it had.

Seeing the look in her eyes, Toni realized that perhaps Cheryl wasn’t trying to pull her leg after all. With another look back at the box, Toni sat down onto the couch once more and grabbed Cheryl’s hand to make her calm down.

“I swear this played a video earlier Toni. I swear on JJ’s name.” Hearing this, Toni’s eyes went wide for a moment. Cheryl was never one to joke about Jason, so if she was confident enough to swear by his name, then she had to be telling the truth.

“It’s ok, just calm down. Walk me through what happened when this video played the first time.” Toni locked eyes with Cheryl’s as she continued to try and calm the other girl.

“Um...I got the box off the front step. It had been left there by someone. I took it inside to the dining room and laid it down. Then I was going to break it because I couldn’t get it to open but I saw these seams at the top and when I pushed them in --” Toni squeezed Cheryl’s hands to silently tell her to stop speaking.

“Wait. So you’re saying that this part wasn’t always pushed down?” Toni gestured towards the sunken down portion of the box before looking back at Cheryl.

Hearing Toni say it outloud made the same thought click into her head. The box only worked because she pressed down on the top. Now that she’d already pressed down on it, there was no hope of getting the video to play again.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! Why would you send something like that and only allow it to be played once?” Cheryl was on her feet now. The way she was pacing back and forth in the living room had Toni feeling dizzy.

“What exactly was the video about anyway.” This stopped Cheryl’s movements and instead she looked down and started playing with her fingers.

“It was the video. The one we saw being taken at the party. The one of us…” Cheryl trailed off as everything came into place for Toni. Her eyes went wide and she was on her feet ready to storm out of the house.

“So someone actually sent you a video of that? Why would someone even keep something like that? What is wrong with this stupid town?” Toni was infuriated and it was evident by every movement she made. Now she was the one pacing and Cheryl almost didn’t want to share the other bit of information where the wooden box was concerned.

“That’s not all though.” Cheryl’s voice once again trailed off leaving Toni to turn and look at the girl as she waited for her to continue. “The video I got told me that if we couldn’t figure out who was responsible for this, they’d release the video at homecoming.” 

Toni’s mouth dropped. Sure, it wouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone to find out she liked girls. Everyone had already thought she did for years. The problem though was in the fact that while Toni had never denied the rumors to her name, she’d never proven them either. Depending on what portion of that video was shown, everything she’d internally known she wasn’t would have physical evidence for the rest of the world to use against her. She couldn’t have that.

Another part of her told her that she also couldn’t allow this video to leak for the sake of the girl standing across from her, but that part of her would not receive the privilege of being vocalized.

“You mean to tell me that someone is blackmailing us with this and we have to find them before homecoming just so they won’t release it?” On hearing herself back, Toni almost felt dumb. Yes. That was exactly what Cheryl had told her. She just didn’t want to believe it.

Cheryl nodded her head as she lifted it to meet Toni’s eyes. Both of them stayed like that until the air around them seemed all too burdensome. Toni found herself sitting back on the couch with a thud as she attempted to breathe normally.

Cheryl joined her on the couch and they both just sat. The information was something hard to swallow. It wasn’t like finding out that a secret of theirs had actually been released. It made it worse knowing that it still wasn’t public knowledge. It made it worse understanding that the hands that held their lives in the balance, saw this more as a game then as a serious matter.

Thinking on this, Toni felt herself get angry. While most of her anger was directed at the mysterious sender of the black box, a faceless senders was infinitely more complicated to blame. The girl sitting next to her; however, was not.

“God. This is all your fault.” Toni whispered it at first. It was just enough to get Cheryl’s attention. When Toni repeated herself in a much louder voice, Cheryl was taken back by it and found herself moving away, closer to the opposite side of the couch.

“How is this my fault?” Cheryl was on the defensive now. Her hands were firmly planted onto the cushions beneath her as she gained the courage to move closer to Toni once more.

“Well it’s not like I’m the one who kissed you! Last time I checked, you’re the one who started all of this.” Toni was on her feet now, yelling down at Cheryl. To match this, Cheryl also found herself on her feet which put Toni at a slight disadvantage given the height difference.

“Yeah well you’re the one who got all hot and heavy! So what if I kissed you? If you’re so high and mighty you could’ve just walked away!” Cheryl’s finger was in Toni’s face as she spoke. Neither girl wanted to admit that the other had a point. No matter how you turned it, they were both responsible in some way for this video being taken in the first place. 

“You’re actually unbelievable! Why are you even here if all you wanted to do was say we’re screwed?” Toni almost sounded defeated with her last question. It was as if everything they’d been screaming about hit her in one solid blow to the gut, and now she was left with the overwhelming feeling of dread that consumed her facial features.

“You know what, you’re right! Why did I bother coming here just to get screamed at? As if we’d be able to do anything else.” Cheryl was irritated to say the least. With a frustrated sigh she went to pick up the box that had caused this whole mess and leave. After all, what’s the point in staying somewhere you weren’t wanted.

Before she could get her hands on the box though, she felt a rough push to her shoulders that sent her flying back onto the couch she’d previously been sitting on. Looking up, Cheryl was met by eyes that had become glazed over in what she could only define as lust.

Toni crawled on top of her in an almost desperate manner and attached their lips without a second thought. Cheryl wanted to scream. While this wasn’t exactly unenjoyable, it was definitely not the time or place for it. They were staring into the black abyss of the box next to them and yet all Toni had on her mind was...well...whatever this was.

“I can think of something else that we’re able to do.” Toni’s voice came out like a growl towards Cheryl. Looking back, Cheryl would’ve said it was that tone which kept her from pushing Toni off of her and leaving as she’d initially planned. She’d say that, but she’d be lying. 

Although Toni looked at her more like something to devour than something to please, there was a look of want all the same. A look of want which Cheryl wasn’t and hadn’t been used to where the girl was concerned for some time. Despite the lust that fueled that gaze, it was still one that Cheryl couldn’t bare to waste.

Grabbing onto Toni’s neck, Cheryl pulled the other girl back down to her. Their lips connected as they had the past times, but it was obvious that whatever had been holding Toni back before was broken down unlike all her other walls.  
Cheryl was quick to notice a bite on her lower lip as Toni went to disconnect them. When Toni let go, Cheryl was positive she could almost taste blood. She couldn’t care less though. As Toni straightened herself to be sitting on Cheryl rather than lying down and began moving her hands down the length of Cheryl’s body, the last thing the girl underneath could think about was a bit of blood.

Toni’s hands worked their way down the fabric of Cheryl’s shirt with ease. Occasionally, a stray finger would stroke Cheryl’s sides leaving her to jerk slightly with being tickled. This didn’t last long though as Toni quickly found herself moving down Cheryl’s body, careful to maintain a look in Cheryl’s eyes the entire time.

“You know, I bet you could do this yourself.” Toni stopped touching Cheryl as she sat back up with her legs positioned under her. Cheryl had a questioning look on her face, but Toni only smirked and moved to the farthest end of the couch, thus allowing her legs to slip out from underneath her.

“Why don’t you come here and fuck yourself like the dirty bitch you are.” Oh. Oh. Cheryl understood what was happening now. 

With some hesitation, Cheryl found herself sitting up and crawling closer to Toni on her knees. Toni smiled slightly seeing that the other girl understood and merely moved to allow some space for the other girl to climb overtop of her and straddle her thigh.

“Show me what you’ve got you Blossom bitch.” Cheryl hummed at the term. She still couldn’t help but enjoy the way Toni spoke to her during all of this. While she’d never admit such things to anyone, within the privacy the two had for the moment, it was hard to ignore the surge it sent through her body.

With no further instruction, Cheryl began grinding herself down onto Toni’s thigh. It took a few tries to get the right angle, but once she’d found it, Cheryl would squint her eyes in an attempt at being quiet.

“Who said you were allowed to be quiet? I want to hear everything a slut like you has to say.” That word was new. Cheryl didn’t hate it. Matter of fact, the moan she let slip probably revealed more about how she felt than she’d like. She didn’t dare to look at Toni as she was sure the other girl would be smirking in that moment. 

With the new instructions, Cheryl found herself unable to stay quiet as Toni’s hands glided over to her hips and began pushing them down into Toni’s thigh with every movement Cheryl made. 

“Come on. You know that a slut like you is gonna need more than that.” Toni snarled out as she pushed down especially hard on Cheryl’s hips and left the girl to release a low sound of pleasure.  
Cheryl quickly found her hands drifting to her breast as she gave both a squeeze upon reaching them. By doing so, she found that her eyes shut almost instantly and she was able to feel everything that much more intensely. 

Although Cheryl’s shirt was still on, Toni was able to see the slow movements of Cheryl’s hands working herself over beneath the fabric. Looking at the open-mouthed face of the girl grinding down on her almost had Toni pushing her back down and fucking her senseless just for the hell of it, but she resisted. Watching this was far too fun after all.

As Toni continued to watch, she was able to see Cheryl’s face contort more and more with every menstruation she dealt herself. Seeing this, Toni decided it was time to make things a little more interesting.

With a simple bend of her knee, Toni angled her thigh in such a way that a short scream escaped Cheryl before the other girl quicked her pace. Toni almost laughed when Cheryl’s arms landed on her shoulders in a futile attempt to support herself in all the commotion. Being mindful to continue pushing down on Cheryl’s hips, Toni watched as the other girl came unraveled on top of her. 

Cheryl was panting heavily by the time she’d passed the aftershock of her orgasm and was fully slouched down into Toni when her breathing began regulating itself again. Her forehead was nuzzled into Toni’s neck before she went to pull herself away and sit on the other end of the couch facing Toni. 

Cheryl took a few moments, but before long, she almost looked like she hadn’t just had sex. Toni was almost impressed as she gazed at the shiny covering that coated her thigh. 

“What are we going to do Toni?” Cheryl’s voice was quiet now. There didn’t seem to be anything left in her and an untrained eye would say it was due to her activities moments before, but the look that both Cheryl and Toni shared after the question told a different story.

“We’re gonna find this bastard and shove the tap and any copy of it they have down their throat.” Toni’s response was fast. She didn’t want to leave any room for questioning or doubt. 

As the two girls sat in silence just staring at one another, it became apparent that no more questions were needed where they were concerned. They had enough to deal with.


	8. At the Meeting Table

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Toni caught up on what's going on, the only logical next step is to find some overbearing "sleuthers" to help catch the culprit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sooooo sorry for the late update of this. If you'll believe it I've actually had this update written since Tuesday, but hadn't had the time to decently edit it and actually post it. For that, I'm sorry and while I wish I could promise better, at the moment I don't think I can. Just want to say that no matter what I haven't forgotten this story and if you all can stand by me, I'll happily give you the best story I'm capable of producing. Thanks for the understanding pals. Enjoy <3 (p.s. I'm loving all the guesses you guys have as to the culprit. Give me your best, well thought out theories. I'm so here for them and they make me smile so much)

Six sets of eyes sat, staring aimlessly at one another across a much too cramped booth in Pop’s. Anyone looking in would probably find it strange to see all of these individuals together in the same space and, for the most part, their curiosity would be warranted. Not since the beginning of sophomore year had these teenagers interacted in any way, yet now, they seemed to be waiting for the same amount of tension to snap between them.

“Alright. In an effort speed this up, I’ll get to the point. Despite my absolute hatred of all things “Sad Breakfast Club” I’m in need of assistance.” Cheryl rattled off as she crossed her hands on top of the table.

Everyone was taken back by the sudden break in the silence so all eyes fell on Cheryl besides one pair that could only look down. 

It had been so long since Toni had been near these people, much less have to ask them for help. In a way, it was almost painful to sit there and know that at one point, all of these people saw her as a monster. Or maybe they still did. She couldn’t be sure.

Cheryl, noticing that she had the attention looked at Toni who was sitting beside her to see what the other girl had to say. When she saw that she looked like she’d rather be under the table instead of sitting at it, Cheryl decided to continue by herself.

“Just yesterday this,” Cheryl pulled the black box which she’d been sitting in her lap on to the table, much to the surprise of the four others sitting their who had been unaware of the object until that very moment. Toni continued to look down even though she was sure questions were racing through the minds of those around her.

“--was dropped off at my front step. No name. No person. No anything. Long story short, someone is blackmailing me and if I don’t figure out who it is by homecoming, that blackmail will become public knowledge and that’s not an option.” 

Everyone was more or less stunned. Cheryl, to say the least, had cleared up absolutely nothing in her explanation of the situation and only left the gang with more questions than answers.

“So...what exactly is this ‘blackmail’?” Jughead was the first to speak up. Of course the investigative journalist would be the first to pry. Cheryl expected this much.

“Does it matter Beanie?” Cheryl snapped in Jughead’s direction leaving him with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“Yeah. Probably.” Jughead’s usual sarcasm found Cheryl and she wanted to scream. This was no time to have a battle of wits with the walking charity case.

“Look. If I wanted to tell people about what the blackmail was, do you think it’d be blackmail in the first place?” Cheryl was losing her temper to the intrusive individual in front of her. Why couldn’t he just accept that some things were better left unsaid? 

“Cheryl, if you want our help, we need to know what’s going on.” Betty tried to sound helpful but it was obvious in her tone that she wasn’t pleased with the way Cheryl was talking to Jughead. Cheryl could do nothing but sigh as she went to massage her temples.

“Fine. Let’s just say that said blackmail has information on both Toni and I that would be rather damaging if released. Does that settle it?” It was only at this point that everyone remembered that Toni was also sitting in the booth with them. The girl had done a fairly good job of hiding her presence up until this point.

“Oh, so that’s why you’re here.” Toni was sure that Archie wasn’t trying to sound rude from across the table, but the phrase still made her clench her teeth at the reaffirming feeling of not being wanted. 

“Yeah. That’s why.” Toni still couldn’t bring herself to lift her head as she started twiddling her thumbs with a heightened sense of anxiety.

“What could be so damaging with you and Toni? You guys haven’t talked in forever. What’d you do, punch her?” Jughead seriously wasn’t letting this go.

“Who knows. Maybe I could throw one at you and you could tell me if its blackmail worthy.” Cheryl rose slightly off her seat as her hands met the table with a slap to balance herself in attempts to intimidate the guy across from her. Her words had a certain venom to them that everyone at the table was all too familiar with.

“Anyway….” Veronica drew out the word as she took the attention off of Jughead. Cheryl settled and starred in the raven haired girls direction. “If you can’t tell us what the blackmail is all about, can we at least see the black box of mystery?” Veronica pointed in the direction of the box as she spoke. She seemed to be taking all of this as more or less a joke with the way she seemed to be more interested in the drama than the problem itself and it annoyed Cheryl to no end.

“Need I remind you that this is no laughing matter. I’m only doing this because the quicker this gets solved, the quicker I can focus on the rest of this school year and not all of you.” The tight lipped smile that worked its way onto Cheryl’s features was enough to get the joking smirk off of Veronica’s face as Cheryl slid the box to her where she sat beside Toni. 

As Veronica and Archie looked over the box, seemingly trying to be helpful, but potentially more concerned with twisting their fingers together as they held hands beneath the table, Jughead decided it was the time to continue his questioning.

“So how exactly was this box delivered? If it was placed on your doorstep, then the mailman might know something about it if he was the one who delivered it which means --” Cheryl held up her hand to stop Jughead’s rambling as he attempted to find a lead.

“Let me stop you their Sherlock. The mail was delivered in the morning that day, so by the time the box came, we’d already gotten the mail. That means whoever delivered it had to have done so by hand without going through this town’s outdated and crass postal system.” This seemed to stump Jughead as his chin found his hand and a contemplating look formed on his face so he could think.

“Does Thistlehouse have cameras or anything? If so maybe the person we’re looking for was caught on one of them? Or maybe it was delivered by someone else so the blackmailer wouldn’t risk being seen.” It was suggestions from Betty this time. Although both decent ones, Cheryl could do nothing but shake her head.

“Mommy doesn’t believe in cameras. Thistlehouse is 100 percent void of any type of security system that doesn’t involve iron gates or brick walls. Also, trust me when I say that I’m sure that whoever is doing this delivered it themselves. This is personal. Of that, I’m sure.” Betty mimicked Jughead’s face as both seemed to be out of ideas.

“Just out of curiosity, and not like I’m admitting guilt or anything, but how do you know that your blackmailer isn’t one of us. While I’m definitely not saying it is, I can’t say that I wouldn’t be suspicious of everyone if I was in your position.” Everyone seemed to agree with Jughead as they all turned their head towards Cheryl in wait of an answer.

If Cheryl was being honest, the thought had crossed her mind. How could she trust anyone without knowing anything about the blackmailer? The only answer she could formulate was that she was in desperate need of assistance and the only way she could do this was to involve other people.

In addition to this, if Cheryl knew one thing, it was that the sender seemed to want to be found. This meant that whoever it was might just be willing to play along and try and help Cheryl find them even if it was one of the four she was recruiting.

That’s what Cheryl had to bank on at least.

“Desperate times, desperate measures.” That was all the rest of the table got as an explanation. 

Jughead returned to his previous position and silence consumed the group. They sat like that for a while. Archie and Veronica were too busy being grossly infatuated with one another to pay attention to the task of examining the box and Betty and Jughead were using every ounce of their brains to find a lead as to the mystery person behind all of this. 

Toni felt suffocated by all of it.

“Excuse me.” Toni barely let out her words in a whisper, but Veronica heard and was quick to move onto the other side of the table and sit on Archie’s lap as a replacement chair to allow Toni to get up.

Seeing an escape, Toni was quick to slid out of the booth and run off to the bathroom where she could get a few moments to herself. 

As the bathroom door closed behind her, Toni took a few breaths to settle her nerves before walking to the sink and turning on the facet to allow a steady stream of water to fall out.

A shaky hand reached beneath the running water and she felt as it cascaded around her skin that kept the water from penetrating further. The feeling calmed Toni. At least one part of her could be shielded from all of this, even if only by water.

The feeling of peace didn’t last long though as the creak of the bathroom door was heard leaving Toni to rip her hand away from the water and turn off the facet, fearing that whoever had entered would find it strange that she was standing there for so long and not moving. When she turned around however, she was met with Cheryl’s eyes as opposed to those of a stranger.

“Why’d you run off like that?” Cheryl crossed her arms and rested her weight onto one leg. Wasn’t it obvious that they were trying to figure out a solution to whatever was happening? Why would Toni chose not to contribute.

“I just...I just needed a minute.” Toni wanted to duck her head, but she’d done enough of that today. Instead she raised her chin to attempt to look confident, but looking at Cheryl wasn’t helping.

“A minute for what? You think it was easy to get Mystery Incorporated out there to help us? The least you could do is sit and look like you’re being helpful.” Cheryl scoffed when she’d finished her sentence and this left Toni burning on the inside.

“Help us, huh? What part of them not even realizing I was there or only showing up because you asked, seems like they’re here to help us? From where I’m sitting, it seems like they’re only here to help you.” Toni was angry now. Any anxiety she’d had was quickly washed away by the overwhelming sensation to punch something.

Cheryl couldn’t find the words to refute Toni. Although she wanted to tell her how wrong she was and that she should stop being ridiculous, something about what Toni had said was oddly truthful and Cheryl knew it.

“You have no idea what it’s like sitting there with those people. They’re the same people who stopped talking to me. The same people who decided to treat me like I didn’t exist. They’re the same people who believed I --” Toni choked on her next words and was forced to look away from Cheryl. She couldn’t bring herself to reiterate those things that had been said about her, but Cheryl understood.

Dropping her usual cold exterior, which had seemed to happen more and more around a particular girl lately, Cheryl approached Toni and laid a hand on her shoulder. 

“I don’t know what it’s like, but I do know that if that video gets released it’s only going to get worse, so I need you to focus.” Cheryl wasn’t proud of herself for that. The last thing she wanted to do was play on Toni’s fears but what other choice did she have? What other choice did she have that wouldn’t require more than she was able to give at the moment?

Toni didn’t say anything as she shrugged Cheryl’s hand off of her shoulder and walked out of the bathroom. Cheryl just sighed and went to follow the girl who she just couldn’t seem to say the right thing to.

When they’d both returned the table, they noticed that not much had seemed to change in their absence. Jughead and Betty were still thinking up a storm and Archie and Veronica only seemed to be more involved with one another as they appeared to be recreating the infamous scene from Ghost with the box in place of a pottery wheel.

The silence from before their exit returned and Cheryl and Toni waited for something to break it.

“All things aside, this blackmailer really needs to get their act together. I’ve seen better things painted by three year olds.” All heads turned towards Veronica as she was the first in some time to approach the carefully constructed line of silence that the group had created. 

With a second of gazing, the rest of the group saw that Veronica was picking at loose flecks of paint that had begun to peel off the top of the black box revealing a simple wooden box beneath. Seeing this, Toni was quick to grab for the box.

“Jug, give me your knife.” Toni demanded Jughead out of his pondering, but with a curious look, Jughead handed over the knife without any complaint. 

Receiving the object, Toni got to work running the blade over the top of the box, slowly peeling away the layer of paint that covered the wooden surface below.

Everyone watched as Toni scrapped away the paint on each side of the box until finally the bottom of the box was her target. With a pile of shavings scattered across the table, Toni made quick work of the bottom half of the box, but stopped all of a sudden.

Looking over her shoulder, Cheryl saw a signature etched into the wood of the box that had been scratched clean of its covering. The signature wasn’t one readily familiar to her, but it was something.

“Wait, is that Mr. Kroskut’s signature?” All eyes were on Archie as he seemed to be the only one capable of putting a name to the signature before them.

“Who’s that?” Toni was the first to ask the question on everyone’s minds. Figuring that she didn’t know simply because she was the newest of the bunch to the school was proven wrong as she saw the questioning expression on the other teens faces.

“He’s the woodshop teacher. A bunch of the other football players take that class and whenever they finish a project they bring them into the locker room before taking them home. Kroskut puts his signature on everything he grades.” Everyone nodded in understanding as a piece of the puzzle seemed to fall into their lap. Finally they had something.

As the group celebrated they’re find, they missed the sound of a bell ringing to signal that someone had entered Pop’s. They also missed the fast approach of a familiar face.

“Wow. Color me surprised to see all of you here. What’s the occasion?” Everyone was quick to turn towards the unfamiliar voice that had interrupted their brief excitement. At the end of their table stood none other than Kevin Keller.

“Just a casual before school get together. Who knows if we’ll have time to do anything together with this year coming up.” Cheryl was grateful for the lie that escaped Veronica’s mouth with ease. She wasn’t readily willing to drag anyone else into the mess that was her current situation.

“Oh! Speaking of this school year, guess who’s getting to plan homecoming.” Kevin took a long pause as a toothy grin spread across his face. Betty was quick to congratulate him as everyone else followed suit, but the mere mention of homecoming had Cheryl’s head spinning. 

Knowing that it was creeping closer to her like a predator in the bushes had her stomach doing flips in the worst way possible. A quick glance towards Toni showed that a similar feeling was consuming her as well.

“I’m going with a Memories of the Past theme. They’ll be pictures of the school when it first began and milestones throughout all of the years. So all of you better come with your most memorable high school moment in mind that way we’ll all be part of Riverdale’s history. At least that’s the pitch I gave Weatherbee, but really it’s just a celebration of us and our senior year. It’s such a conclusion to everything over these last four years.”

Anyone could tell that Kevin was getting sentimental, but he was quick to shake himself out of it when Archie spoke.

“Sounds awesome Kev. We’ll be there.” Archie stared at Veronica as he spoke and she nodded at him before caressing his cheek for a moment and then looking back at Kevin.

“You’ll all be there, right? It’s not really a celebration of our class if our class doesn’t attend.” Kevin looked into the eyes of Jughead and Betty to gain their answer, which was obviously a yes, and then his eyes met Cheryl’s. 

Kevin stared at her in wait of an answer but when all she could do was look away, Kevin was quick to react.

“Don’t tell me you’re not coming! You have to come. I’m planning the whole night around a performance by Josie and you. Without the Pussycats, may they rest in peace, I don’t have another show stopper.” Cheryl was becoming even more nervous at the thought of having to perform at the dance that could potentially ruin her, but the look in Kevin’s eyes told her that to say no now would cause more harm than help.

“Um, yeah. Yeah. Ok, I’m coming.” The same tight lipped smile that others had grown accustomed to seeing on Cheryl’s face reappeared and Kevin excitedly clapped his hands together as he began speaking.

“Great! Now I just have to get the ‘ok’ from Josie and I have my main act.” Just as Kevin finished speaking, a yell from the register counter came calling Kevin to get his takeout.

“And with that I’ll leave you all to...your box. Bye!” Kevin made a questioning looked at the shaven box left on the table, but waved nonetheless as he grabbed his food and left. With his exit, the two couples at the table started talking about what they’d be doing for homecoming, seemingly forgetting all about Cheryl and Toni as well as the case they’d agreed to help solve.

Cheryl envied their bliss. She wished she could excitedly join in and talk about how amazing she’d look at homecoming and what bullheaded brute she’d be bringing in tow. She wished she could speak on what music she wanted to hear and what Josie and her performance would look like. She wished for all of that, but with the box that was once black still staring her in the face from its position on the table, Cheryl knew that wasn’t possible.

As much as she might otherwise regret thinking it, she also knew that it was more than the box that was keeping her from enjoying homecoming to the fullest. She wouldn’t, couldn’t, admit the true cause of her problems right now. There was simply too much to worry about and that couldn’t be one of them.


	9. Suspicion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With new clues and little time, the first steps are taken to solving the mystery of the black box

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say thank you to all of those who have been wonderful enough to stand by this story and wait patiently for an update that I simply haven't been able to bring you until now. I tried to make this update have a little bit of everything for all of you who have so generously stood by me through my mini hiatus as all your encouraging words and wonderful theories have truly aided me in jumping back into writing after a much too stressful school year. I have every intention of posting more regularly from here on out, so please look forward to what I have in store and thank you so much again.

Cheryl’s locker seemed more barren than it had years prior. Where there used to hang pictures, a mirror, little notes, and much more now stood empty with nothing put the remnants of graffiti past to diversify her locker from the next.

The trend of becoming less attached to everything seemed to flow greater as her years in high school increased. Everything just started to seem a little less important than it had despite an obvious want from everyone to convey the opposite.

Try as she might, Cheryl felt nothing of the excitement for the place she’d once presided over as a queen and despite her still, perhaps, holding that title, she felt none of its previous weight.

Her empty locker was a testament to the emptiness she felt in her heart and she was alright with that.

Cheryl focused back into the world around her as her locker door slammed shut in front of her just barely missing her nose as she pulled back in a rush. To her right stood an overzealous Josie who seemed to be grinning wider than usual.

“Did you hear?” Josie’s voice squeaked at the end of her sentence almost in a cartoonish expression of glee, but Cheryl ignored this and continued to stare at Josie with a level of absent mindedness gracing her features.

“Hear what exactly?” Cheryl attempted to show some form of enthusiasm, if only to mimic that of her friend.

“That we get to perform at homecoming! Kevin said he was planning the whole night around our performance and everything.” Finally Josie’s excitement made sense to Cheryl. Of course the performer would be excited about performing.

“Oh right! I’d almost forgotten.” Cheryl was better able to mimic Josie’s excitement after hearing the reasoning. While she didn’t particularly feel any sort of joy related to homecoming, she couldn’t help but be happy seeing her friend as such.

“It was honestly so unexpected. I haven’t performed in so long so we have to figure out a set list, and choreo, and all new costumes because we can’t exactly use the Pussycat ears anymore, and then we have to-- “ Cheryl started laughing as she watched Josie ramble on in a panic. She was certain she hadn’t seen her best friend so excited for something since she’d found out that Beyoncé had released one of the Lemonade music videos for free.

“Alright Josie. Calm down. Don’t get to excited.” Cheryl said in between laughs as she rested her hands on her friends shoulders. Josie took a deep breath before joining Cheryl in laughter as well.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better I’d say you weren’t nearly as excited about this as me.” Josie shrugged Cheryl’s hands off of her shoulders as her arms crossed over her chest. Cheryl could do nothing but silently stare at Josie before turning her gaze back towards her locker.

“Is everything ok? Did Toni do something?” Josie, recognizing the situation from a little while back slowly starting putting the pieces of Cheryl’s reaction together and wondered what was really going on with her friend.

“No, she didn’t. I’m just nervous about performing again. It’s been so long, ya know?” Even a child could have seen that Cheryl was lying, but in an effort to not push her, Josie instead settle on giving Cheryl the best advice she could manage for the moment.

“Alright. Well no matter what, things will blow over eventually. Nerves or other annoyances included. Hopefully one annoyance will find someone new to bother, right?” Cheryl looked at Josie questioningly at the last statement only to notice Josie nodding her head in the direction of the girl who was causing Cheryl so much distress as she talked pleasantly with another girl that Cheryl had never seen before.

The unknown girl seemed nice enough. Everything from her blonde hair and thin rimmed glasses to the edgy yet cute outfit she sported screamed adorable hipster and Cheryl couldn’t have hated it any more than she already did.

A grimace settled its way onto her face as she continued to watch Toni talk animatedly with the other girl until she finally couldn’t take it anymore.

Grabbing Josie’s arm with a iron grip, Cheryl began pulling the other girl in tow to the class they both shared for the next period.

* * *

School had finally finished for the day as Toni started packing up her belongings. She always seemed to be the last to leave the classroom. Maybe it was out of habit at this point.

Just as she started to get up a red blur rushed into the classroom and shut the door leaving Toni to hear a lock being clicked into place afterwards. As her eyes focused on the Flash-like being who’d entered the room before her exit, Toni started to be less shocked and more upset.

“What do you want Cheryl?” Before she could get an answer, Toni found herself pushed up onto the desk behind her hearing the sound of it roughly scratching against the floor beneath her.

Cheryl’s lips were on her neck before she had time to react and she felt her bag slip off of her shoulder and onto the floor without any hope of her catching it. Toni’s hands found the nape of Cheryl's neck pulling her closer into herself as her legs wrapped around the taller girl’s body and she extended her neck upwards to give the red head better access to her desired expanse of skin.

The pair stayed as they were for a few minutes as Toni only moved a few time to readjust herself before falling off the desk. It was only when Cheryl started making her way farther downwards that Toni realized that she had no idea what had sprung this on Cheryl and despite herself, Toni couldn’t handle not knowing.

“Wait…..Cheryl….wait” Toni breathlessly voiced out at Cheryl attempting to gain her attention, but when that didn’t work, Toni instead resorted to pushing the other girl back by the shoulders and looking her dead in the eyes. Eyes, that Toni noted, were way too glazed over for them to be in a classroom right now.

Cheryl attempted to move back into the other girl but Toni’s firm grip on her shoulders kept her from pressing forward.

“What’s gotten into you?” Toni was no longer breathless and instead a tone of worry consumed her voice with an added sense of annoyance over Cheryl’s unnerving avoidance of giving an answer.

“Does it matter?” Cheryl closed her eyes once more and managed to push past Toni to reach her lips. Toni was distracted for a moment as she kissed Cheryl back. Toni forced herself to separate from the kiss before things could get too intimate and returned to her questioning.

“Seriously Cheryl. What are you doing?” This time Cheryl became visibly angered from the questioning and went on the defensive as she no longer tried to make a move on Toni.

“What? Am I not blonde enough for you?” Cheryl said with arms crossed and a stance that she usually used to show some form of dominance.

“Alright. You’ve officially confused me. What are you talking about?” Toni hopped off of the desk and mimicked Cheryl’s stance with the addition of a raised eyebrow.

Seeing this, Cheryl’s defenses broke down and she once again returned to trying to seduce Toni as she made a move to grab her face and connect their lips once more.

Toni saw this coming however and instead managed to twist the tables as she bent Cheryl over the desk she’d previously been sitting on. Cheryl’s hands were flat on the desk as she felt Toni’s weight press down on her from behind.

“If you were this needy all you had to do was ask.” There was the Toni that Cheryl wanted. Cheryl smiled out of Toni’s view as she stopped trying to move and instead let Toni do whatever she wanted.  
Toni’s hand glided underneath the loose fitting shirt that Cheryl had decided to where that day and shivers were sent down Cheryl’s spine as a result. Toni stopped her movements upwards right before she would’ve found Cheryl’s bra and instead used one finger to trace down the center of Cheryl’s back forcing her to arch into the desk beneath her.

“It’s not nice to not answer questions asked of you.” Toni was now leaning over Cheryl’s back so that she could whisper into Cheryl’s ear. Cheryl’s head instinctively leaned towards the sound, but Toni was quick to move away.

“What question?” Cheryl, genuinely confused, asked almost in a desperate sigh in hopes that doing whatever Toni wanted would speed up the process she always enjoyed the ending of.

“What’s gotten into you today?” Toni was once again at Cheryl’s ear but this time a stern grip on the back of her neck kept Cheryl from leaning towards the sound and as nails started scratching against her skin, she almost forgot that Toni had asked her a question at all.

“It’s nothing.” Cheryl closed her eyes as she resigned herself to the sensations she was feeling in hopes that Toni would continue on.

“Wrong answer.” The grip on her neck remained but a new grip found its way to her most intimate area leaving Cheryl to gasp lightly in surprise before attempting to push herself down into the touch. The ever tightening grip on her neck told her to do otherwise though.

“Now, if I didn’t know any better I’d say that you still haven’t learned your lesson about avoiding the question.” Toni’s fingers starting making wave motions on Cheryl’s lower region and Cheryl had to bite her lip in attempts at holding back any sounds that might give Toni the satisfaction of tormenting her as such.

“I told you. There’s no reason.” Cheryl knew she wasn’t being very convincing in the given moment, but who could blame her in the position she was in. More important things were running through her mind.

“Still, a very poor answer.” Toni’s voice almost showed a hint of disappointment as she pushed herself onto Cheryl once more leaving open mouthed kisses on the areas where nails had dug deeper on Cheryl’s neck than even Cheryl had noticed. It was only then that Cheryl realized that she was no longer trapped by the vice like grip on her neck and as Toni straightened herself up, Cheryl attempted to follow only to be slammed back into the desk.

“Stay.”

That was the only word that left Toni’s mouth in a tone that did nothing less than make Cheryl’s mouth water, among other things. A last little wave of Toni’s fingers sent Cheryl’s forehead colliding into the desk beneath her as she tried to contain herself, but despite her pride she remained even after Toni had moved away from her and she’d heard the classroom door open and close.

She stayed bent over the desk attempting to calm herself down for an amount of time she wasn’t quite sure of before her back started to ache and she returned to a standing position followed by a series of stretches to relieve the tension that had filled her entire body.

Making a conscious decision to ignore the wetness between her thighs, Cheryl exited the classroom finding great relief in the fact that the hallways were completely empty and most everyone had returned home for the day.

Cheryl shook off the last bit of the haze that filled her mind and cocked her head up in a confident manner to make her departure from the school. Every step allowed her to forget about Toni and the classroom more and more until the simple rounding of a corner stopped her in her tracks.

In front of her stood Archie and Veronica, as disgustingly in love as ever with hands interlocked and far to much skin touching to be walking in a comfortable way. Both pairs of eyes widen when Cheryl saw them and Veronica was the first to speak up about the encounter.

“There you are Cheryl. Archiekins and I have been looking for you everywhere. It’s been a whole week since we’ve started back at this dreadful place and we still haven’t confronted Mr. Kroskut.”

Yes, of course. After there little pow-wow at the diner, Cheryl had made an excruciating effort to avoid the “Riverdale Sleuthers” at all costs. While she knew time was ticking, she could only handle so much of this blackmailing situation and sometimes the best idea just seemed to ignore it all together.

While she wasn’t surprised that she’d been confronted about not talking to Mr. Kroskut yet, she didn’t think Veronica and Archie would be the ones delivering the message. A majority of the nosy, crime investigating done in this town was by a certain “weirdo-and -girl-next-door” pair.

“He’s still here right now if you want to go talk to him.” It was Archie’s turn to speak up and Veronica looked at him before nodding enthusiastically towards Cheryl.

“Come on Cheryl! There’s no time like the present.” Veronica let go of Archie in favor of looping arms with Cheryl to make their way to the woodshop classroom. It was almost unnerving how excited Veronica and Archie seemed to be, but Cheryl couldn’t deny that there want to solve this mystery was comforting.

Upon entrance into the woodshop classroom, the group of three was met by a familiar face in the form of Kevin. He was talking to Mr. Kroskut while pointing to a sketchbook that he occasionally flipped the pages of.

Both Mr. Kroskut and Kevin looked up when they noticed the presence of the other students in the room and Mr. Kroskut was the first to speak.

“Welcome to the world of woodshop kids. What can I do for ya?” A slightly southern tone that almost seemed forced came with the man’s voice as he spoke and Cheryl was confused given that southern accents rarely made it this far north. In addition, the voice seemed much too deep for a man that appeared to be in his late 20’s with only a full beard to separate him from looking like a muscular teenager

“Um...we can always come back.” Archie spoke up before Cheryl or Veronica could while making eye contact with Kevin as if saying that whatever conversation he was having with the teacher before they came in could be continued if needed.

“Oh! That’s alright. I was just discussing some ideas for homecoming with Mr. Kroskut and seeing if he had the time to help be build some of them. It’s a conversation that can wait until tomorrow though.” Kevin looked towards Mr. Kroskut with a nod before attempting to leave the classroom, but he was stopped by an abrupt clap of a hand to his shoulder as Mr. Kroskut pulled him back leaving Kevin with an awkward expression on his face.

“Ahhh, this kid’s being modest. All he needs from me is the wood and some tools. Last thing he needs is assistance though. He’s practically a genius when it comes to woodworking.” Kevin forced a smile as the compliments flowed out of Mr. Kroskut’s mouth and was quick to say thank you as he attempted to leave once more.

Before he was able to make it out the door though, Mr. Kroskut spoke up again.

“And don’t worry about a thing Kevin. My best student can have my help any time.” Mr. Kroskut shouted towards Kevin as Kevin nodded once more and shut the door. This left Mr. Kroskut to put his closed fists against his hips, almost in a superhero pose, as he took a sigh as though admiring his own willingness to help. He then proceeded to remember the other students in his classroom and return his attention to them.

“Now. What is it that I can do for you kids?” It was Veronica’s turn to speak this time.

“Well, we were hoping you could tell us who made this.” Cheryl hadn’t noticed the scratched up wooden box in Veronica’s bag up until this point, but as the raven-haired girl pulled it out, a sinking feeling settled in Cheryl’s stomach at remembering what such a box meant.

Mr. Kroskut donned a pair of glasses before examining the box before him and looking it over a few times. His hands quickly found the seams that Cheryl had so easily missed at first and he traced them seeing where they went and attempting to open them only to find the screen which Cheryl knew would not play the same video she’d be so kindly surprised with.

“I assume you opened this already?” Mr. Kroskut asked his question in a way that could almost be taken as rhetorical, but Cheryl nodded anyway. Mr. Kroskut nodded back before continuing his examination. He stopped once he located his signature on the bottom of the box before flipping it upright and looking up at the group.

“I can’t tell you who made it. Despite it definitely having been made by one of my students, I can’t quite place it. The craftsmanship alone is remarkable without all the work done on the technical side of things so I’m surprised that it doesn’t ring a bell, but I do get a handful of talented students each year so sometimes it’s hard to keep up. How’d you happen to get your hands on this?” Mr. Kroskut’s eyes squinted together in a questioning manner that could be taken as accusatory, but Veronica was quick to talk her way out of his suspicion.

“Archie here found it in the locker room and figured it was one of the players. Instead of asking all of the players to find out if it was theirs we figured it’d be easier to ask you.” Mr. Kroskut seemed to accept this answer willingly enough as he slid the box back over to the group.

“Well, whenever you find who made it, but sure to give them a pat on the back from me. Despite me not remembering who made this, it’s still craftsmanship right near worthy of an award. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a staff meeting to get to.” Mr. Kroskut said his final goodbyes to the group before taking his leave.

With his disappearance, Cheryl allowed the worrisome feeling that had been growing in her chest to further form and coagulate together like a clot in her bloodstream. She could feel her lungs pulling harder together in attempts to find air to no avail.

Seeing that she wasn’t alone though, Cheryl shoved these feeling away and searched for something to consume her thoughts instead. She found that distraction in suspicion.

“What if it’s him. It would make sense how he got access to the box and why he conveniently can’t remember such amazing craftsmanship.” Cheryl said the last part of her statement in a mocking tone. Veronica and Archie didn’t seem too convinced however as the threesome made their way out of the classroom and into the empty hallways.

“Are you guys seriously ignoring the possibility that he’s the culprit?” Cheryl was growing annoyed as the lovey-dovey pair continually shrugged off her idea. She was about to start yelling when another pairing she’d expected more so than the one she was currently roaming the halls with appeared.

Betty and Jughead exited the Blue & Gold’s clubroom within the school. They were having what appeared to be an intense discussion on whatever piece they were currently working on, but stopped upon seeing the other three students who had stayed back so late at school. In particular, the mention of a culprit perked their ears.

“Who’s the culprit?” Jughead rushed over to the group with a level of inquiry that Cheryl would normally classify as invasive and annoying but seeing the level of involvement that Jughead had in the current situation decided to keep her mouth shut.

“We just talked to Mr. Kroskut and Cheryl’s convinced that he’s behind all of this.” Veronica spoke as if Cheryl wasn’t right beside her and this fact pissed Cheryl off even more than she already was.

“I doubt that. A teacher seems like a bit of stretch.” Betty joined the group this time and spoke up upon hearing Veronica, earning her a brief nod from Jughead.

“Oh, right. Because we’ve never seen a psychotic teacher or perhaps janitor terrorize students before.” Cheryl postured herself in her usual way of showing superiority. The other four individuals surrounding her ducked their heads slightly recalling the events that had transpired in Riverdale years prior and couldn’t help but agree with Cheryl a little more.

“Alright, so maybe it’s not a complete impossibility, but I still say it’s unlikely without any motive.” Betty verbally retracted her earlier statement and the rest of the group seemed agreeing enough in this conclusion. Though Cheryl wasn’t completely pleased by this result, it was better than outright disbelief.

“Well now that we all agree on that I have a question.” Jughead spoke this time as he visibly tried to change the subject. The group listened in to what he had to say.

“If we’re all here trying to solve whatever is going on, where is Toni?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so we have a new mystery? Where exactly is Toni? 10 points to anyone who can guess it correctly. Heck, if someone gets it right I might honestly have to give out a prize or something. But we'll just have to wait and see ;)  
> I hoped everyone enjoyed this update and please continue to leave your comments on who you think the culprit is and anything you think will happen in the story. I love reading how all of your minds are working with this story and really is my greatest pleasure in writing this. Happy reading everybody <3

**Author's Note:**

> Just to clarify, they are seniors. Everything that happened did so back when they were sophomores (so the year they currently on in the show). Penelope Blossom is still around - regrettably - but everything else is canon to the current timeline.


End file.
